Spanish Spree - April 2009
Day 8: Cordoba and Madrid
The main reason we came to Cordoba was to see La Mezquita, the great mosque. The Mezquita is huge, and there is no way for me to convey to you just how many yellow and red arches there are inside the mezquita. It really is a sight to be seen and was the highlight of my visit to Cordoba.
Afterward, we still had some free time before we had to catch our train to Madrid so we decided to see the Alcazar, a grand fort. The Alcazar itself didn't impress me much, but the gardens were beautiful. We spent most of our time out in the gardens!
We rode another high-speed train from Cordoba to Madrid and even though we were in coach seats this time, we found it very comfortable for the journey. Before we knew it, we had arrived at Atocha station where we transferred to the metro to get to our hotel.
When we got off the train, we were so disoriented. In Spain, streets are marked on the sides of buildings, which makes it hard to tell which street you're on until you're right in front of the sign. Additionally, not all streets are marked...and the icing on the cake? Our map didn't have all the streets off the main square labeled! To make a long story short, we walked the long way around the square, made a few wrong turns, and walked much farther than we needed to before finally finding our hotel...which was only about two blocks from the metro. Oops!
When we got off the train, we were so disoriented. In Spain, streets are marked on the sides of buildings, which makes it hard to tell which street you're on until you're right in front of the sign. Additionally, not all streets are marked...and the icing on the cake? Our map didn't have all the streets off the main square labeled! To make a long story short, we walked the long way around the square, made a few wrong turns, and walked much farther than we needed to before finally finding our hotel...which was only about two blocks from the metro. Oops!
After checking in, we left for lunch. We went to the Museo del Jamon (museum of ham), a restaurant advertising cheap meals. This was the first time we felt rushed at a meal in Spain. Spanish meals are, typically, quite long and drawn out. We had gotten into the culture and were surprised when we looked at our watches and realized only an hour had gone by during lunch. Though we were shocked at first, it was a welcome change since it allowed more time to sightsee.
Since it was a nice day, we decided to spend some time strolling through El Parque Retiro, Madrid's version of Central Park. The park was nice and we enjoyed walking through it. We even fed the fish in the pond.
Our next stop were the botanical gardens - not a planned stop, but we had time and had like the other gardens we visited so much, that we thought it would be a good choice. However, after seeing such beautiful gardens earlier in the day, these ones just didn't excite us. There were a lot of herbs, bushes, trees but not many flowers and not the gorgeous landscaping we had expected.
Our next stop were the botanical gardens - not a planned stop, but we had time and had like the other gardens we visited so much, that we thought it would be a good choice. However, after seeing such beautiful gardens earlier in the day, these ones just didn't excite us. There were a lot of herbs, bushes, trees but not many flowers and not the gorgeous landscaping we had expected.
Our final stop of the day was El Templo de Debod, an Egyptian temple gifted to the Spanish people. It is a dream of mine to go to Egypt, so I really wanted to see this temple. It was really cool to walk through and for just a minute, it didn't feel like we were in Spain anymore!
We had some drinks and tapas in the late evening before returning to our hotel for the night.
Continue to Day 9: Madrid and Toledo