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| Neil waiting for the train |
We had breakfast and walked to Atocha train station. We already had downloaded our train tickets, so it was simply a matter of finding the departure track. Not so simple because Atocha is a very big place. The AVE (high speed) train took 1.5 hours to Cordoba. On the train, there was a quartet of young American girls on their way to a language course in Seville. The train ride was very smooth. The countryside was dry and hot heading South out of Madrid. It changed slightly to rolling, dry, and hotter as we approached our destination.
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| Hotel San Miguel courtyard |
We decided to walk from the train station, armed with step by step walking instructions from Google maps stored on Neil's ipod touch. Very Star Trek! We had a bit of trouble orienting ourselves to the starting point and then got lost in the narrow streets toward the end. We came upon Plaza de las Tendillas where, upon asking directions from a waiter, we found our way to Hotel San Miguel. The hotel is tucked away but, as we approached, we saw all of the signs directing us to the hotel that we had previously not noticed. The walk, advertised by Google to take eleven minutes, took us about an hour! The hotel was very pretty, organized around a lovely courtyard filled with invitingly green plants.
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| Stairway to Palacio Bailio |
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| Relaxing at Tendillas Plaza |
After settling in, we went off exploring using an ipod app Neil had downloaded. We walked back to Plaza de las Tendillas and then set out for an exterior stairway to Palacio Bailio in the area of the San Jacinto Hospital and the Capuchin convent. The convent wall was covered in pretty bougainvillea. We wound our way back to the Plaza de las Tendillas where we tried to beat the heat (upper 90's) by relaxing with a capuchino and a chocolate frappe. While there, we had a long conversation with a Canadian couple from Victoria B.C.. He was a retired engineering professor. Their passion was sailing their 41' sailboat.
We checked out the tourist office in the Plaza and bought tickets for that night to the Equestrian Show of Andalusian horses at Caballerizas Reales de Cordoba - the Royal Stables - at 9:00pm. We spent the evening at the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos till 7:30pm. The Alcazar is a beautiful old fortress with beautiful gardens. Among the people walking the gardens, we saw two guys holding hands. Something we do not see at home! After the Alcazar, we walked over to the Roman Bridge, crossing the Quadalquiver river and back. There was a nice breeze on the bridge, cutting some of the heat of the afternoon. We spent the remaining time before the Equestrian show checking out the shops in the Juderia -Jewish Quarter.
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| Gardens at Alcazar |
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| Cordoba as seen from Alcazar tower |
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| Neil in front of Alcazar |
The horse show was interesting and enjoyable. I loved it and actually cried because the horses were so beautiful. After the show, we dined indoors at the Bodegas Mesquita (Cespedes) at about 10:00pm. The food was great. We had a salad with a roasted tomato / honey / olives concoction, gaspacho, croquettes with oxtail filling, and albondigas. A very adventurous meal to cap off our first full day! I had a "tinto con limon" - red wine with lemonade - which was delicious and super refreshing. We were served a bonus liquor called Montilla Morieles, which was sweet and very good.
Here is a short video clip from the horse show.
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