Carrefour and Córdoba

Carrefour's Endless Aisles

On Friday, I went on an adventure to Carrefour. This store is basically the Super Wal-Mart of Spain. Ever since coming here, I've craved a place like Target where I could get everything I wanted in one place. I found it a short bus ride away from the center at Carrefour. This was probably the largest single-room store I've ever seen in my life. I got a workout walking up and down every aisle. And it literally had everything - including the most extensive yogurt aisle I've ever laid eyes on. I ended up buying some necessities, including slippers, European-looking sneakers, folders for my clases particulares, and a potato peeler for Thanksgiving! Then I headed back to the city to meet up with Rebecca for some Jordanian kebabs. Mmm. I shopped around some more in the shopping area and bought another pair of funky sneakers from H&M. I hope I can pull them off in any way like the Spanish girls do. After an episode of 30 Rock at Rebecca's apartment, I headed home early to get ready for the big next day.

Rebecca and Me on the Train

I woke up at 7:30 am on Saturday (ugh) and headed to Santa Justa train station to catch the train to Córdoba. After I bought my ticket and had lounged around for a bit, I started to get worried because no one else was at the train station yet. I headed to the boarding dock, praying that someone would show up before the train pulled away but accepting the fact that it might be a solo trip after all. The line to buy tickets was long when I went to get on the train, and I knew Paige was waiting in it. Rebecca walked onto the train 1 minute before it was supposed to leave. She was ticketless but had used some smooth talking to get past the ticket lady. Two minutes later, Paige and Reegis sprinted onto the train, tickets in hand. I was so relieved and happy to see them all. Luckily, the train pulled out 3 minutes late. We had a lovely ride there - 1 hour 20 minutes. Train travel is so much more fun than bus travel, especially since we had 4 seats facing each other. When we arrived in Córdoba, we got a map and some advice from the tourist office and took a cab to the Mezquita. It was absolutely gorgeous and enormous from the outside. We decided to get some breakfast at a little patio restaurant and then got tickets to see the ex-mosque. It was even more overwhelming on the inside. But it was gorgeous and had so many nooks and crannies. The whole thing was covered in red and white striped arches. It reminded me of Candy Land. There was so much to see inside. At one point, I thought we had seen it all, and Rebecca pointed at this giant section in the middle that I hadn't even noticed. It was the most impressive part of the entire building - it had an elaborately decorated roof and an enormous organ. I sat in the pew for a little while and just people watched and stared at the walls. Eventually, after waiting in different sections of the mosque, we found each other and headed into the courtyard. The courtyard was filled with orange trees, which were much more orange than the ones in Sevilla now.

Inside the Mezquita

Outside the Mezquita

Next, we headed across a bridge over the river to a tower on the other side. There was a museum in the tower that we didn't want to pay to enter, but it was worth the walk for the view of the city from the other side. Then we headed to the Alcázar de Los Reyes Cristianos, which is similar to the equivalent in Sevilla. It is a giant castle-like building with extensive gardens and pools. After climbing a tower and wall that reminded me of Dubrovnik, Croatia, we went to the gardens. It was absolutely stunning with the water, endless orange trees, and very strangely manicured bushes (a la Dr. Seuss). We wandered around there for a while, mostly taking pictures that could potentially be used as "profs" (profile pictures on Facebook). I could have stayed there forever, but hunger set in and we went in search of the famous tortilla, or, as I like to ask, "¿Dónde está la tortilla bueeeena?" The guy in the tourist office knew exactly what we were referring to, and, as it turned out, so did the entire city. We turned the corner to see countless people eating loads of tortilla española on disposable plates in front of the mosque. We waited in a line and ordered our tortilla at a bar. It really was delicious - very soft and eggy. After getting up from the stone wall we were sitting on, my butt was totally asleep. Rebecca and I went to the BK Lounge for a bathroom break and later found Paige and Reegis enjoying coffee and gelato at a cafe. Of course, we joined them.

View of the Mequita

In the Gardens

Strange Bushes

After our endless consumption break, we went in search of the sinagoga in the Jewish part of the city. It turned out to be a very small building with some pretty wall structures, but it is one of the 3 remaining synagogues in Spain. We found a sculpture of a Jewish man that reminded me of John Harvard so I took a picture of myself rubbing his toes. We walked around the Judería a bit more and came upon a group of men playing flamenco music in a bar. We sat in there with drinks for a few hours and enjoyed the ambiance. It was a little strange when the musicians asked us for money, but other than that, they were very friendly and asked us where we were from. We also had a funny interaction with a group of people from Paris. One guy kept looking at us and was clearly trying to strike up a conversation but it took him about ten tries until he finally asked us where we were from.

Flamenco-Playing Men

We eventually left the bar to the sound of many "guapas" from the old men and headed in search of some tapas. A seemingly nice man convinced us to eat in his restaurant, but he turned out to be a rude, inattentive waiter, even though we were the only people in the whole place. The food was also mediocre and tiny-portioned but it did the job and we rushed off to the train station. This time, we boarded without sprinting and had another easy ride back. We were exhausted though. Despite all the talk of a big night out in Sevilla, when I got home and showered, I decided that was not going to happen. I opted for relaxation and sleep after a long and wonderful day in Córdoba. Now I just have to decide the next city to hit up...

Mezquita at Night