Córdoba

Another trip under my belt! This past weekend I went to the city of Córdoba, which is still in Andalusia about two and a half hours away from Huelva. Rachel and I decided last week that we wanted to go somewhere and decided on Córdoba...but instead of booking a hostel, Rachel used her account on couchsurfing.com to find a host for us! How the site works: you make an account, and you can host people when they visit to your city, but you can also search for other hosts for when you travel to different cities. Rachel found a guy named Ricky...he had great reviews, seemed like a fun and interesting person, and so she contacted him and set it up! We arrived in Córdoba around 6:30, but since Ricky was out with a friend we just walked around and explored the city center for a couple hours. When he was ready we met him at a hookah bar (I didn't partake!) where he was with a couch surfer that had stayed with him the previous night...and this couch surfer was someone quite special. He introduced himself as Thor, and we learned he was from Denmark. About 30 minutes into our conversation with him and Ricky and another American and her boyfriend from the Basque Country (the north of Spain), we learned what he was actually doing in Córdoba...in Spain for that matter. It turns out that he is on a quest, a saga if you will, to travel to every country in the world. He is taking off 3-4 years of his life to do this, sponsored by a company he used to work closely with. As you can imagine, when the Red Cross got wind of his project they also wanted to be a part of it! I won't go into detail here, but basically this trip will take him about 4 years with him spending a minimum of 24 hours in each country. 201 countries!!! Without ever traveling by plain. AWESOME. Here's his blog: www.onceuponasaga.dk You have to go check it out. He'll be only the second person in the WORLD to ever accomplish this. If only we had gotten a picture with him!!!! Anyway, after we parted ways we went and dropped our stuff off at Ricky's and went out for a bit! The next day, our first and main stop was the famous Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. It. Was. Incredible. The origins of this massive building date back to the Visigoth Era, where it was called the St. Vincent Basilica. When the Moors invaded and conquered Spain, they converted the church into a mosque, or "mezquita," which is when the majority of the architecture dates back to. Finally, in the 13th century, the Christians reconquered the area and transformed the mosque back into a cathedral. It was an amazing/overwhelming feeling to be in a place so old and so full of history and culture. Unfortunately we were kicked out because it was closing time, but we got to see the whole church so I was happy!

Córdoba is famous for being a very important city in the past...it was the capital of two different eras, one of them being the Roman era. One of the biggest displays of this time period is the Roman bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir River. Also amazing.

One of the teachers I work with is from Córdoba, so she recommended a restaurant called La Taberna Salinas. We went there for dinner, where I had pig's cheek. Delicious! We looked around in some of the shops and then went back to Ricky's apartment. We went out for a little bit more but went to bed early. The next day we explored more of the city center and did a little shopping (for Christmas gifts ;)!!), and ate salmorejo, a dish that Córdoba is famous for. It's like a cold, creamy, delicious soup...by far one of my favorite things I've had in Spain! We also checked out the famous "Calle de las flores," a street full of potted plants with a view of the Cathedral Tower. It was beautiful!

We walked around a bit more but then had to catch our bus at 4. It was an excellent trip!