digg it
post to del.icio.us
March 30 - 31 Córdoba
 0 |
 0 |
5:31 pm, April 23, 2006 EDT | Barcelona | Semester in Barcelona |
The high speed train is the only way to go. It only took me 45 minutes to get from Sevilla to Cordoba which was great because I had not booked a room there and needed to go searching. A security guard pointed me in the direction of the old part of town, the Juderia, and I started walking. I only got about halfway when I had to break fo lunch, and give my back a break from my bags. I chilled in a park creating my two sandwiches with the help of my pocket knife. I continued walking and eventually asked some lady directions to the cathedral and she told me about a cheap place to stay. Turns out that I had seen it online but didn?t book there. So by chance he had one room left, and for 24 euro I got a double bed and a full bathroom all to myself? I wasn?t going to lug my bags any further. So I settled in then took a walk. After I saw the cathedral or Mezquita as it?s more commonly known, I tried walking around the Juderia. I was basically lost for a good two hours but I didn?t have a specific direction in mind anyway. I hit up a grocery store and bought the next day?s breakfast and lunch and found some cool fountains. The one that is all misty in the pictures is where a few kids were riding their bikes through. It?s fun to people watch now and then.
I headed back to my room, caught up on my journal, had a snack while I watched some tv, then passed out around 10:30. The hostel owner had told me that there was going to be free entrance to most of the tourist sites the next day so I was going to get my rest. Friday morning I got up at 8:30 and had my canned fruit cocktail for breakfast then headed to the Mezquita. It was pretty wild inside, as far as the architecture goes. It was nice because there were very few people so I got some pretty good pics. It was just a huge open room with tons of arches and columns made of marble brick and stone. It was formally a mosque, but in the center was a huge organ and all the Christian frescoes on the ceiling. They had a bunch of artifacts on display from an excavation they did in the 1930s, when they had pulled up huge stone blocks and made plaster molds of inscriptions. So that was pretty neat. Afterwards I headed to the Alcazar which was the royal palace of Carlos V I believe. I don?t think it?s still used like the one in Sevilla. The interior wasn?t amazing but you could climb up the towers on the wall and walk down into the old Arab Baths. The gardens were the real high point. Though things weren?t quite in full bloom, they were well on their way, and it was pretty beautiful. My last stop was an old Synagogue. One room was all that remained and there wasn?t really anything explaining it so that was a quick stop. I went back to the hostel and grabbed my bag, but this time the owner told me that I could catch the bus right in front of the hostel to the bus station. That was wonderful because my back was feelin it. Although I was there less than 24 hours, I had had my fill. There was mostly museums that you actually had to seek out (and pay for) so I decided to head to Granada.