Day 34 - Cordoba

We wake up for (free!) breakfast at the hostel and find Henri cooking pancakes.  He dramatically shows how sad he was that we weren’t at the pub crawl with him.  I find out he has a car and ask him if he would drive us to Cordoba.  He makes excuses and changes the subject.  We focus on the toast and cereal and Nutella substitute.

We check out, but stay in the lobby looking up tickets and routes for our trip to Cordoba.  Henri passes by again.  He says it is a three-hour drive to Cordoba and that he has to work tonight and that he’s very sorry.  I guess he looked into the matter after all.  In any case, he was of no help.  But it turns out that the man sitting next to us on the computers was from South Africa.  We quickly got to talking, and he was very eager to tell us all about Cape Town and all the adventurous things to do there and show us the view from his house.  Unfortunately, he will be out of town when we arrive there, otherwise we would have been welcome to stay with him.

We get the info we need and head out for the bus stop.  We get almost a block away and hear someone calling after us.  It is Henri, actually running to catch us.  He pretended to be very offended that we left without saying goodbye and asked for our contact info.  Oh, the French.

A couple hours later, we arrive in Cordoba.  We wander toward big streets, follow some ancient ruins, and find the Mezquita, the mosque-cathedral that is the main attraction of the city.  We go inside to find a maze of candy cane pillars filling an enormous room.  The unusual decorations of the Islamic influence are very different from all the previous art we have seen throughout Europe and, in my opinion, far more interesting.  The room is dark and in shadows except for the huge center section, which is a mixture of Christian and Islamic architecture and is also huge.  It is lit up brightly by natural light, and the room contrasts sharply with the dim, less ornate space around it.

When we finally pulled ourselves out, we walked into the first hostel we found.  Free wi-fi, affordable prices, candy at the counter, and the fact that we were exhausted and still had our backpacks compelled us to book it immediately.  We find that we have a fantastic room on the roof overlooking a historic bridge behind the Mezquita.  What’s more, there are towels included!  (Previously, we either shared towels or would forego them altogether to avoid paying even an extra euro.)  We took full advantage of the candy and wi-fi before going out to explore the city at night.