Spain: Sevilla and Cordoba

We left Madrid on Sunday, October 4th around noon. We ended up on a nice regional train this time. As you can see from the DB route, we passed right by Toledo. Orginally I thought we might go to Toledo for a day trip from Madrid, but we didn't take the time. Just one more little thing to do next time...

You can see that we also passed right through Cordoba. We did make a side trip to Cordoba from Sevilla the next day.

You've probably noticed that the train stations are widely variable in size and design. The Sevilla Santa Justa station is a very modern one. If you go to the Wikipedia link for Sevilla, there is a picture of this train station along with good information about the city and the area. Kansas City is a sister city to Sevilla and one of the main streets next to the train station is the Avenida de Kansas City.

We stayed in the oldest part of town, the Barrio Santa Cruz. I didn't take many pictures of the area, but the link has a nice grouping of them.

We hailed a taxi and were taken within a couple of blocks of our hotel. If you go to the Barrio link, you can see why they couldn't take us the whole way.

Our hotel, El Rey Moro, was one of the best for our whole trip. This is the primary courtyard. Although the place looks old, it is actually a modern replica of an old palace that used to occupy the location.

Our room was not on this courtyard. It actually overlooked the restaurant. It is off this peach courtyard. In fact, that is our open door and windows.

These are doors to some rooms across the courtyard from our room. The green tile in the bottoms of the pictures is our window sill.

This is the door into our bath from the entryway into the room.

This is part of the bath. You can see through to our room in the mirror.

This is the tile in the entry. It's the same pattern as in the bath.

This is the tile in our bedroom.

Here's Trout in the room through our window from the walkway.

And here he is in the room watching TV. This kind of room set up may seem strange to most Americans, but was very common in the hotels we stayed in. Most of the courtyards we overlooked were open to the sky, unlike this one which is covered because of the restaurant below. Usually, if you want a quiet room you get one overlooking a courtyard rather than a street. In this case, we had an AC, so we didn't have to open the windows when we slept.

The primary reason we went to Sevilla is FLAMENCO! Trout loves the music and dancing and so do I. For many people it seems like just a lot of yelling and stomping, so to learn about flamenco, click on the link to esflamenco.com.

We had 2 nights in Sevilla. We couldn't stay up late enough to see the truly authentic flamenco because it usually starts in the bars after midnight. But we were able to see a couple of authentic shows.

The Barrio Santa Cruz is the heart of flamenco in Sevilla and that's part of the reason we stayed there. We could literally walk around the corner from where we stayed to see these shows.

The first one was at the Casa de la Memoria. It was held in a very small courtyard of an 18th century palace that was built including parts of a 15th century Jewish home. At one time Sevilla was the 2nd most Jewish city in all of Spain, and the most Jewish area was what is now known as the Barrio Santa Cruz, at least until the Jews were run out in 1483. The shop at the Casa de la Memoria includes traditional Andalusian and Sephardic arts and crafts.

But for this trip we were buying experiences, not things. So we went to the show at the Casa de la Memoria the first night we were there.

They didn't allow pictures, but I was able to get these from the website. This courtyard only seated 90 people. There was no air conditioning, but we managed to sit next to a fan and on the back row so we could stand up and see the show and have a bit of a breeze to dry the sweat.

And we saw this woman perform with only one guitarist. It was very special. For more performance pictures click on the Galeria at the website.

We did walk around the Barrio quite a bit. One morning we saw this very cute sight. At first I was looking for the puppy the little girl had on a leash -- but it was a rabbit. Her mom was very nice to allow us to take a picture and she was very nice to pose for us. The bunny was not quite so cooperative.

After all that talk above about the tile in our room, it shouldn't be a surprise that we would take these pictures. We loved all the tile in the area. It comes from the Moorish tradition as does the courtyard house style.

We ate dinner at this place late one night (just like we were Spaniards) and had tapas just across the street from here one late afternoon. You have to be careful when ordering tapas. Normally they come in 3 sizes: racion (more than enough for a table of 4), 1/2 racion (intended for 2 people) and a very small size intended for only one person. We got the smallest sizes and shared even those. They are not cheap, so if you're really hungry, getting a real meal might be better.

We had breakfast in the courtyard adjacent to this building. This is the way you see this image from the street, but from inside (we didn't go inside) you can see it the right way.

The breakfast we had was supposed to be a typical American or English breakfast at a cheap price. It was cheap and had an egg, but it certainly didn't last. We were hungry again as soon as we got to Cordoba.

As I mentioned before, we never really quite got on Spanish time. The normal Spanish eating pattern is one of small amounts several times a day not at the times most Americans are used to eating them. The only exception is that a large lunch in the early afternoon is common. The link gives a good idea of how it works. How to spend 24 hours in Spain also gives a very good idea of the Spanish lifestyle. So if you ever go there (or to Mexico) don't think the parents are being bad by having the kids out so late. It's just their way of doing things.

Now on to Cordoba. Cordoba, specifically the Mezquita, was the 2nd reason for going to this part of Spain. It was a short train ride from Sevilla.

The Mezquita was a bit of a distance from the train station, but it was an easy bus ride. Trout took these pictures of a fountain and the exterior of the Mezquita as well as the area around it.

That's me sitting on the bench. Note the patterned rock paving. You'll see a close up of that in a bit.

This is the Mezquita from the taxi stand. I saved the link to accompany this picture because the first picture of the link shows how large the building is. If I remember correctly, it could accomodate about 20,000 worshipers. It's another fine example of the pictures not doing justice to either the beauty or the size of the building.

These are buildings across the street from the Mezquita.

This is the detail of the paving I mentioned.

That's me in blue in front of an entrance, but not one we could use.

This is the paving in a courtyard in those buildings across the street.

We just love these little passages.

We had lunch in a restaurant called El Caballo Rojo across the street from the main entrance. Trout loved these windows. I was having a bad tummy day, so I couldn't eat much, unfortunately.

Then we went across the street and to the mosque. Here I am featured with a trash can in front of a wonderful window.

This is the orange and palm filled courtyard.

You will find similar (and better) pictures at the link to the Mezquita, but these we took.

We were here on Monday, October 5th, but it was still a popular tourist site. This is the other side of that window.

This is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. In fact, it may be the most beautiful. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

These are images of the cathedral built inside the mosque.

I have no idea how long we spent inside, but by the time we tore ourselves away from the building, I was feeling more like eating. That's my ice cream on the edge of the fountain.

We decided to take a taxi back to the train station to go back to Sevilla. From this board you can see the frequent trains to Sevilla from Cordoba.

This was our last night in Sevilla and our 2nd night of flamenco. This time we went to a more commercial show at Los Gallos. I was able to take only the pictures below, but the links have some good ones and the Sevilla Wikipedia link even had a picture of this venue.

Here you can see what the footwork does to the stage floor.

And the link to the Galeria of performers from the main page will provide pictures of some of the artists we saw. Trout's favorite was the singer, Tamara. My favorite was the young Patricia Guerrero. She appeared to be the leader of the performance we saw. If you notice in the text it says that she was dancing the Guajiras. Go back to that link on flamenco to find out about that style of dancing.

We both enjoyed the two men who performed, but the only one in the Galeria is Pepe de Moron. He was very cool.

Now if you want to see some of the action, go to the Galeria de Videos (YouTube). Patricia is dancing in one of them.

Sevilla was yet another place where we would have liked to have more time to explore. I could easily spend a month exploring Spain (by car next time), allowing more time for sites, for practicing my Spanish and for getting into the Spanish lifestyle.

Trout did find a store that had a few English language books here, as he did in Barcelona earlier and San Sebastian later. If you're ever in Spain, try the FNAC chain for all kinds of books, music, electronic products, etc.

So once again armed with something for him to read, we packed up for the long journey to San Sebastian the next day.