Cordoba’s Jewish Quarter

When I last visited Cordoba, I stayed in the up-market Hotel Amistad on the edge of the Jewish Quarter. This morning I made a little pilgrimage to this area of town. There is a walking trail marked by brass signs set in the pavement:

There is a statue of Maimonides, a 12th century Jewish philosopher:


Further along the narrow street is the old Synagogue, which was previously closed for renovation. It was surprisingly small:

This is one of the walls in a square, where the original carvings have been preserved.

I was intrigued by this artisan shop, especially the gourds made into lamps, but I’m in no position to buy anything like that:


Then I came to the Chapel of St Bartholomew, with its elaborate decorated tiles:

By this time, it was getting hotter and I was a long way from home. The narrow streets are difficult to negotiate, especially with sun in your eyes. Cars seem to race along them, with hardly enough space to move between buildings:

Evening in Cordoba

I wanted to try the recommended restaurant Bodegas Mezquita. I got there just after it opened at 8.00 pm. This was a good move as they were soon turning people away if they had no booking. I ordered the local speciality Salmorejo  which is a cold tomato soup, similar to Gazpacho but thicker.

I followed this with Eggplants:



Here I am enjoying it:

I had a little stroll by the river and saw these two enjoying a glass of fino. I admired their hair-dos and wanted to ask the where they’d had them done, but couldn’t decide what language they were speaking!

Exploring Cordoba

Here is the start of another Camino. Who knew? But I’m not going to do it: I’m just an ordinary tourist this year:

The lady on the train had advised me to cross the river for the best view of the Roman Bridge, which is what I did at 7.00 pm yesterday:

Apparently the river had been quite high after all the rain over Easter, but it has settled down again now. The enormous buttresses show how the flow has to be controlled at times. The Mezquita can be seen from across the Rio Guadalquivir.

This is the Torre de La Calahorra, a 14th century tower at the opposite end of the Roman Bridge.

The most important and impressive monument to be seen in Cordoba is the Mezquita (with the Christian Cathedral superimposed in the middle of it). I spent an hour of my first full day here looking round and taking too many photos! I had to come out in the end, or my phone would be full up. The red and white striped arches are mesmerising when you first see them, as they appear to go on forever:

Suddenly you are confronted with a Christian altar which seems quite out of place:

This is the mihrab with its worn flagstones indicating where pilgrims circled a Qur’an seven times on their knees. Ouch! This spot is now fenced off and you have to fight your way through the crowds to get to the front.

Roman mosaic below the floor. All history is here!


Outside is a lovely area with orange trees, carefully irrigated:

… Or you can go for a ride in a horse drawn carriage.

I wanted to find this famous restaurant which I visited on a group tour a few years ago:

… but I decided to patronise a convenient Carrefour Express near to my hotel to pick up a few provisions instead. I consumed these in our quiet courtyard and then went upstairs for a siesta.

Perth to Córdoba cont’d…

One of my challenges this year was to travel with carry-on luggage only. I studied Emirates rules for size and weight (55X38X22 cm and 7 kg). In order to squash my Aarn backpack down to size, I removed the front balance pockets, thinking my pack would be a lot lighter without a sleeping bag. No more albergues! When I checked in at Perth airport, they were only interested in weight, which was just over 6 kg. Result! However, I found it very hard work carrying this load around the 3 airports where there is a long, long trek from plane to exit. I had based my plan on the need to get quickly from Barajas Airport to Atocha train station in 1.5 hours. I didn’t want to have to wait around for baggage to be unloaded onto the carousel. Theoretically this was a good move, except for the long queues at Security and Immigration in Madrid due to huge numbers of arrivals.

I knew that the busy main Atocha station would be difficult to navigate. I got there in about 45 minutes on the Cercanias train, which was free with my Iryo train ticket to Cordoba. I just had to show the Iryo ticket on my phone, which I kept doing at Atocha to get directions to the Iryo lines. I was dying of thirst, but dare not stop to buy a drink!

It was a huge relief to board the train, find my seat and get to the buffet car for an aqua con gas. The woman sitting next to me was a native of Cordoba and talked to me non-stop about what to see, what to eat and where to eat it. She wrote the places down in the back of my guide book. Fortunately, Hotel Maestre was within walking distance of all of them.

One last hurdle: as the train was pulling in to Cordoba, there was a signal failure. The train was stuck for 40 minutes from 5.00 pm. After more than 24 hours on the go, I was pretty exhausted and completely fed up by this time! When we finally got there, the platforms in Cordoba station were chaotic: packed with angry travellers. Our train must have caused a bottleneck and other trains were stuck behind it. It was the main line to Malaga, so lots of people were going there!

Outside the station were lots and lots of taxis, the drivers standing around chatting. I jumped in the first one and we drove at speed through the narrow streets of the old town to Hotel Maestre. My tiny single room with ensuite is a bargain at €45 with a view down into the central courtyard and no noise! Perfect for a good night’s sleep (3 in fact).

Perth to Cordoba

Off on another Spanish trip! The Emirates flight was filled to capacity as per usual and it was getting on for midnight before any dinner was served : a tasty chicken casserole with mashed potatoes and peas, plus a G and T and a white wine served all at once., fighting for space on a small tray. Gone are the days when air travel felt special, even luxurious.

On arrival in Dubai, with a couple of hours to wait, I found myself in the middle of a big group of Chinese tourists. The young women were busy with their phones. Some of them wore silk jackets in traditional patterns, with the cuffs turned back to see the lining. One of them sat next to me on the plane to Madrid.  She didn’t eat any of the airline food and just watched films on her tablet. These had subtitles in Chinese, which took up 3 lines across the top of the screen and scrolled across rapidly. Really, the Chinese language isn’t suited to technology!

When we landed in Madrid, I knew it would be a scramble to get across the city to catch my train to Cordoba, which I had booked and paid for online. I got to Atocha Station with only 7 minutes to locate the Iryo lines. Iryo is a new train company that rivals and undercuts the traditional Renfe service. I just made it! I found myself sitting next to a woman on her way home to Cordoba for a funeral. She was determined to fill me in on where to go and what to eat while in Cordoba.

Rocky Bay bushwalk

The start was opposite this old factory, now converted into apartments:

There had been several factories in this area originally, but now it is prime real estate with some of the best river views in Perth.

I arrived at 8.00 am, thinking that was the start time. No-one was there! Had I got the time wrong, or the place wrong? I set off anyway, thinking I would meet the rest of the group at some point along the track. It was getting warm, with only a slight breeze off the water.

I remembered this tree from last year, but it has now finished flowering with all the hot weather:

This walk, going to Chidley Point, was at its best and there were many photogenic spots:

You can just make out the red brick factory in the distance.

The rest of the group caught up with me at morning tea time. They had set off half an hour later! 

Easter treats

Too old for eggs now, but I enjoyed a few other pleasures. First was an absolutely beautiful sunset:

We also held a meeting of our Herb Garden Committee to decide on our Autumn planting strategy. One seemingly insoluble problem is an unwanted visitor: a lone ibis who pecks around in our rich soil looking for titbits. (Our soil is more attractive than the hard, dry soil in the surrounding garden beds). The thing is, he sits on the lovely white walls all round the courtyard and leaves little black “deposits” which are a real mess to clear up. We have been asked to cover our bare soil with netting so that he is no longer attracted to the area. I hope this works!

We definitely over-catered for our meeting!  I contributed some banana bread.

At the supermarket, I was happy to discover Lambs Kidneys, something I’ve not seen in the shops for ages. Are we too affluent to eat offal these days? So I quickly searched Delia Online for her kidneys in red wine. Delicious! (I had no mushrooms so substituted carrots). This was my Easter Monday treat:

Finally caught up with the interloper: