Elizabeth in Córdoba!!!

Hola tod@s! I went to Córdoba over the weekend! Here's what I did: My train to Córdoba left at 8AM, and I was terrified of missing it so I got up and left super super early to give myself plenty of time to make a million mistakes and still make it. But I got there pretty easily! Thank you to the five people who helped me with directions along the way. Here I am on the train. I was pretty pleased with myself for even making it that far, so a selfie proving I did it was in order.

The train took two hours, so I got to Córdoba at 10AM. I couldn't check into my hostal until 3PM, so I had decided to just walk around, get a lay of the land until then. Here is a picture I took pretty soon after I got off the train, walking from the train station into town.

I kept walking pretty aimlessly until I saw this building. There were a bunch of tourists around it so I went to go check it out. It was the Alcazar de los Reyes Católicos. This was on my list of things to do, and they let me take my backpack in, so I went in. (If you have the time, I definitely recommend looking up some of the places I went and skimming the Wikipedia pages. They were all really cool!)

Some ruins.

Here is a cat that was in the gardens :)

The gardens were pretty big and very pretty.

I just liked her vibes.

More gardens.

Cool tree.

After that I went and walked to the San Rafael Bridge. Saw this along the way.

View from the bridge.

Also view from the bridge.

Then I walked to the Tower of Calahorra. I took this picture on the way.

The Tower has a little museum, so I did that, and you can take pictures from the roof, so I did that too. Here's the Roman Bridge.

More views from the roof (including the San Rafael Bridge I just came from).

Also the Roman Bridge.

Here are some ducks for my mom.

Puerta del Puente.

Then I walked by a cafe named Hygge! So I went in and got ice cream. I miss my boys. I asked a nice woman to take my picture, but she didn't speak Spanish and she wasn't fluent in English either, and I don't think she got it when I told her I have a guinea pig named Hygge because she looked a little thrown. Or maybe she understood me and was thrown for other reasons. Anyway, she was still nice, and it is what it is.

The Mezquita-Catedral courtyard.

Me in the courtyard.

Calleja de las Flores.

Walking around.

Then I went to the archeological museum. I thought its courtyard was pretty. They were having a special exhibit about the representation of women in scupltures of classical antiquity. It was really interesting.

They have Roman ruins under the museum, which is pretty cool. Córdoba had an amphitheatre for gladiator games. The muesum has the second largest collection of gladiator epigraphy (Rome is first). They're still excavating and researching, but Córdoba might have had a gladiator school. I learned a lot of cool stuff at the museum.

Then I kept walking around. Templo Romano.

Plaza de la Corredera.

Then I went in the Palacio de Viana. It was sooo pretty. There's a lot of pictures from this one because I couldn't narrow it down.

Sigh. So pretty. Those aren't even all the pictures I took. Big fan of Palacio de Viana. Anyway then I circled back and walked to my hostal because I could check in. I took this picture on the way.

Also took this one on the way.

Outside of the Mezquita-Catedral.

I dropped off my backpack at the hostal and then walked around until dinnertime. Here is the street where I had dinner.

Here is the restaurant where I had dinner.

Here's the inside. I was the first person in because I had a very early dinner because I was starving. I had to wait outside for a little bit until they opened at 8PM.

Here is my dinner. On the left is patatas bravas, typical Spanish dish. In the middle is salmorejo (without the ham), typical Andalusian dish. And on the left is berenjenas califales con miel (fried eggplant with honey), also a typical Andalusian/Córdoba dish. The berenjenas were the best.

After dinner I went to a flamenco show. I didn't take any pictures but it was very cool.

On Saturday I went to the Medina Azahara, an archaeological site a little outside of the city. I took a guided tour, which was really interesting because I hadn't done that yet and it was neat to hear all the stories about the site and the history of the research etc. that the guide knew. Here's a bunch of pictures from that.

It was a pretty long tour, so that was my whole morning and some of my afternoon. When I got back into town I walked around for a little and then stopped at a random place for lunch. Here is the paella I had for lunch. It was pretty mid (which is what I get for not checking the reviews, my dad taught me better than that). But I wanted to try to strike out on my own without Google Maps.

After lunch I walked around once again (lot of walking around this trip--my step count from this weekend is crazy), hung out for a little bit. I did a night tour of the Mezquita-Catedral. Is was super cool. There were no pictures allowed after this so this is the only one I took.

Ice cream I got after the tour. I was actually on the hunt for a Magnum bar (quintessential vacation ice cream--I saw some in a store the day before and I wanted one since) but everywhere except the real ice cream places were closed. It was good though.

Sunday morning! I had a pretty chill day. Here's the bells going off while I walked.

Here is a picture I took while walking.

I walked around for a little and went to two art museums. I didn't take pictures at either of them but they were both really cool. Then I went to a Jewish museum and the Synagogue.

Breakfast: found a Magnum bar.

Lunch: berenjenas califales con miel again. I'm going to learn how to make these they're so good.

Tortillas de camarones (shrimp fritters), typical Andalusian dish.

Calamari. And Córdoba beer. Very Erik Elsea lunch.

After that I walked around, hung around town until it was time for me to go to the train station. Here is a picture of four cats I took on the way to the train station. Cat Alley. I didn't even see that one on the left until I walked down this street to see if there were more cats around the corner. There weren't.

I know that was a lot, so here's the TLDR:

I had such a great time in Córdoba! I had never heard of the city before, and it was really amazing. The Mezquita-Catedral (specifically the Mezquita part of the Mezquita-Catedral) was probably my favorite. The guided tour of the Medina Azahara was also really neat. Also the berenjenas califales con miel. The archaeological museum was also really cool. I guess I can't actually pick a favorite. I walked around so much and saw and did so much and everything was so cool. This was also a really trip for me to practice traveling by myself. It was close, it wasn't a giant city, it was very walkable, there was a ton for me to do. Now I have a lot more confidence in myself that I can travel alone.

Hasta luego!