The
breakfast buffet is huge at this hotel. So many choices. The only thing I don't like is that the scrambled eggs are most times not cooked enough for me. Wish there was an egg station where I could get eggs over medium. I find that with the bacon too. I guess I'm just used to what I have back home. I do enjoy all the fresh fruit and the variety of donuts, pastries, etc. My plate has fruit, 2 kinds of donuts, and a chocolate filled pastry. Richard has embraced the European way of breakfast. He has a sandwich, vegetables, scrambled egg. We both enjoy juice and coffee. Today our plan is to walk to old town and explore and visit some sights.
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| Toaster |
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Rolls
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| Meats |
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| More meats |
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| Cheese and even more meats |
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Juices
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| Condiments |
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| Salad fixings |
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| Fresh fruit |
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| Fruit |
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| Fruit |
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| Grapes, dried fruit |
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| Cereal |
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| Cheese |
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| Cheeses |
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| Yogurt |
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Churros
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| Scrambled eggs, bacon |
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| Sausages, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices |
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Cereal
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| Cereal |
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| Cookies, chocolate, sweet sauces |
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| Muffins, pancakes |
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| Pound cake, waffles |
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More cakes
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| Donuts, brownies |
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| Powdered sugar pastries |
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| Croissants |
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| Choose your own coffee machine |
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| Lots of tables |
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| Richard started eating before I could take a picture of his breakfast sandwich, scrambled eggs, sausage, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, tomato juice, cafe Americano |
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| My plate of fruit, powdered sugar pastry, orange juice, cafe con leche |
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| My second plate-donut and chocolate chip type pastry |
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| Richard's second plate-churro, tomatoes, cucumbers, fruit |
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Water
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| Wines, cava |
Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. This can be skipped if you're short on time. I didn't find the inside that interesting but I did like the view from the top and there were lovely gardens. Cost €4.50 each. The fortress itself did not impress me. There were a few nice Roman mosaics on the wall in one of the rooms. A spiral staircase takes you to the top. Views were ok. The gardens were the wow factor for me. Water features. statues, greenery, flowers, trees. We spent about 1 hour here
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| Tickets |
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| Room with Roman mosaics |
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| Roman sarcophagus |
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| Inside tower room |
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| The gardens are lovely |
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| Looking at the fortress from the gardens |
Puerta del Puente/Triumphal Arch. Designed to welcome King Philip II but he arrived before it could be completed. You can climb up for views which are ok and can be missed but it only costs €1 per person.
Plague Monument. Adjacent to the arch. Single column dedicated to Saint Raphael-protected the region from plague, hunger, floods.
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Puerta del Puente/Triumphal Arch
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| Ticket to go to the top of the arch |
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| View of Plague Monument from top of the arch |
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View of Roman Bridge from top of the arch
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| Can just see a bit of the Bell Tower/Minaret of Mezquita from the top of the arch |
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| View of rider and horse from top of the arch |
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View of Roman Bridge and Calhorra Tower from the top of the arch
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Views from the arch
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| Plague Monument |
Roman Bridge. Sits on 1st c. A.D. foundations and still has its 16th c. arches. First bridge built over the Guadalquivir River. There is a museum inside the Calahorra Tower that I did not visit-Museum of Al-Andalus Life. It is so hot that we decide to return to our hotel and the pool. It's 12:00 PM. We've spent about 2 1/2 hours sightseeing today.
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| Calahorra Tower |
Back at our hotel we change, go to the
pool where we spend a few hours cooling off and relaxing. We'll walk some of the streets in old town later this evening. While at the pool we hear lots of sirens. The TV is saying there's a red alert for southern Spain-Cordoba is included-due to the extremely high temperatures. It's no fun sightseeing when the temperature is well over 100˚F.
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| Our hotel pool |
At 6:00 PM we decide to wander through
old town as our dinner reservation is for 7:00 PM. Walking down some streets there are shops with beautiful ceramic plates on display. Vivid colors. There's a Burger King! Restaurants. We walk around the outside of the Mezquita which we will visit tomorrow. Quite impressive and a huge building.
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| Statue of Averroes-Muslim lawyer, authority on Aristotle |
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| One side of Mezquita on the left in this picture |
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Mezquita
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| Mezquita |
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| Another side of Mezquita |
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| Mezquita |
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| Mezquita |
Dinner-
Bodegas Mesquite Corregidor. We have a reservation for 7:00 PM which is early for Spain. We are the only ones here at this time. Lots of white-tables, chairs, walls. Extensive menu. Our server Manu was friendly and very good at his job. Drinks-we both got glasses of Finca la Canada/white wine which was refreshing and very good. We both got cold soup-tapa size Cordovan salmorejo with olive oil, chopped hard boiled egg, and chopped Iberian ham. Similar to gazpacho but this is the Cordoban take. Half racions of patatas bravas, sautéed vegetables, and Al-Andalus chicken tagine with vegetarian couscous and nuts. Two glasses of sangria. What we ordered was just right-enough for the 2 of us. The food was delicious. The chicken in the tagine was so tender. Even though the menu stated that the sauce on the patatas bravas was spicy we didn't find it to be too hot. Great dinner. Cost without tip $42.42.
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| Finca la Canada/white wine |
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| Tapa size Cordoban salmorejo-cold soup |
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| Sauteed vegetables |
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| Patatas bravas with spicy sauce |
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| Al-Andalus chicken tagine |
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| Sangria |
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| Our server Manu |
Nice leisurely walk around and back to the hotel as it's still quite hot out even though it's going on 9:00 PM. I'm excited about tomorrow as this is why we came to Cordoba. Mezquita.
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| Baths of the Caliphate Alcazar |
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| Wedding couple |
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| Old city walls |
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| Fountain by our hotel |
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