June 11, 2022

We arrived in Cordoba very early and were greeted by empty streets. Spaniards definitely do not get up early (until at least 10- especially on Saturdays). Our first stop was to the lockers in the bus station across the street since we weren’t staying overnight. If anyone ever comes to the Cordoba bus station, the toilet paper is OUTSIDE the stall, so make sure you grab it before you go in. Then, we wandered through a park that connects the train station and the Jewish district and found a very cute coffee shop where we got coffee and tried a Pastel Cordobes which was delicious. 

Once we were fed and (more importantly) caffeinated, we finished walking along the park and entered the Jewish Quarter. It felt like we were stepping into Greece with its narrow alleyways and white buildings. We wandered through the streets toward Mezquita where we got our tickets and went inside. The architecture was incredible and it was very calming and peaceful to spend some time wandering around the pillars and arches in the dimly lit Mosque-Cathedral. 

After leaving Mezquita, we headed toward to water to see Roman Bridge (fun fact: some of Game of Thrones was filmed here). It was really cool to see and there were a lot of pretty birds nearby. We then spent awhile wandering through the Jewish Quarter and looking in a bunch of the gardens and shops. We also tried to get into the Synagogue, but the line was about 5 blocks long and we didn’t have time to wait. When we decided we had seen everything we could, we wandered back to the park and began to explore. 

The first thing we found was the market which was mostly very overpriced aside from a Mexican stand where we got some nachos and tacos for a quick and easy lunch. We started walking again and soon encountered a row of booths selling different things. It was clearly geared toward tourists but we wandered through to see what they had. Shortly after, we left with a new blue fedora that was half the price of all the other fedoras we’ve seen this trip. 

After the market, we looked at the Roman Mausoleum and lots of statues and landscaping before heading into one of the other neighborhoods. We wandered around for a little while before heading back to the park to relax in the shade before the train. Today, Mother Nature decided to increase the heat advisory from a yellow level to an orange level and Spain’s hottest time of day is around 5pm, so it was starting to get unbearable. 

On the way to the bus station to get our bags, we chose the shadiest paths and avoided the sun as much as possible. We got our bags and got to the train station with time to spare so we found some cold water before heading to the platform. The train arrived soon later and we climbed onboard and made our way to Granada. 

In Granada, we checked into the hostel before heading out to get some empanadas from a shop on the same block as the hostel for dinner. It was the perfect welcome to Granada and we got some time to relax and get settled before going to bed.