Up early to catch our 9:00am bus, we had a quick breakfast and then caught the 33 to the bus station. The bus from Granada to Córdoba was direct and not too crowded. I was glad that my Mom would be able to see some other cities.
Pulling into the Córdoba station around 11:30, we caught bus number "3" in front of the station and took it to San Fernando. We walked from there toward the mosque, soaking in the seemingly summer heat and wafting the smells of spring. After a slight detour, we came to the mosque. We were carrying our overnight bags which were a little heavy, but we managed. A little funny to already be nostalgic about things in the recent past, but walking around Córdoba, my second time in the city, I kept remembering my first roadtrip with my roommates and our other friends. I was happy to be touring it with my mom as I was adding more good memories to the city.
We paid admission and toured the mosque, truly spectacular. I love the red and white double layered arches. We spent a long time there, before deciding to leave to find the Jewish quarter and synagogue. I was getting hungry and something weird was happening to my eye. I was getting blurry vision and a strong headache and was in a lot of pain. Really weird. I was not being fun to travel with. We found the synagogue and paid 30 cents to enter as we weren't UE citizens. I love the little synagogue and Córdoba's cross cultural heritage.
Doubling back to an open air restaurant we had passed, we stopped for a much needed lunch. I had a chicken paella that was quite good. After lunch, I was feeling a little better and we went to the cute Jewish Museum that I hadn't been to the last time. A converted house, it was filled with artifacts from Jewish Spain. Outside I wanted to find Plaza Porto as I thought it was slightly more touristy area that I'd eaten at before for gelatto. I was really confused. After leading us in the completely wrong direction, we wandered the next hour or more pretty lost. At least we saw a lot of the city. Eventually we found the Plaza who's name I'd been saying, although it was different than the one I'd thought. We stopped in a café/icecream/internet place that was open across the street and I printed out our reservations for the hotel. We waited at the bus stop while eating our ice cream, making it easily back to the bus station.
We looked at a street art display exhibit before boarding boarding the bus to Sevilla. The bus stopped in a few little towns, the one called Carmona looking really cool. Pulling into Sevilla around 7:30 we were ready to tour our second city.
Earlier, I had called the hotel to see how we could get there from the bus station. Nevertheless, at probably my worst at directions I've been this entire year, I led us completely in the wrong direction. I was really good at getting us lost, not finding where we needed to go. I was almost ready to hail a cab, when I caught a sign to the Cathedral and after many questions for directions and wandering, we eventually found our hotel.
We went upstairs to drop off our stuff and settle into the room. Dark interior, flat screen and a shower that looked like a hallway the 4 star hotel was really nice.
And so started the night part two. We went to find a restaurant but ended up having a dinner of champions meal at a "feiriría," fryery," instead. My mother would never let me eat something like this! We got fried squid and shrimp that were so bad and good at the same time. We topped it off with more gelato, throwing in a piece of fruit to balance it all out. We then walked down by the gardens, river and cut back by the Cathedral and Giralda beautifully lit up at night. Sevilla was hopping as everyone was out.
In the city where it was born, we wanted to see flamenco. My lonely planet paid for itself as we went to "La Carbonería," a local flamenco bar that it recommended and actually turned out to be right next to our hotel. An incredible venue of a converted building and two adjoining bars, the main internal courtyard had chairs and tables set up facing a stage under a canopy. Although still filled with tourists and obnoxious Americans, the music was incredible and the feeling real. The first group was traditional flamenco with a singer, guitarist and female dancer. Really great. We met a good guy from Texas and drank a pitcher of tinto de verano while enjoying the scene.
We were ready to go when the group finished their set, but ended up staying another hour. As we left the main patio we stumbled into another open room with a male singer and guitarist. The singer truly feeling the music and the guitarist superb. Initially in the back, we were eventually able to get seats in the front. Haunting and inclusive, this was the best and most real flamenco I'd ever heard.
At one point the singer needed a break and asked his friend, an older man from Huelva to sing a few songs. The man was another perfect image. He had four teeth on top and four on the bottom. He took a "wee bit of courage," from his beer and then sat down in his jaguar, hounds' tooth print, hat, dress shirt and boat shoes. He then belted out the most incredible Flamenco. Extremely powerful, impressive and moving. We stayed until the end in which he finished with a traditional Sevillana song. Blown away, we walked the 100 yards back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep.
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