Cordoba
After a two-hour train ride on Monday 25 May we arrived at Cordoba (population: 325453), our only one night stop on the tour. We checked into Hostal Maestre (English: Master hostel) which is associated with Hotel Maestre a few doors up the street (read reviews).
The tourist ‘must see’ is the Mosque-cathedral of Córdoba (Spanish: Mezquita–catedral de Córdoba), for Catholics, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción). Apparently it was a catholic church before the 700’s when Muslims conquered Spain and built a mosque on the site, then changed to a catholic church again in the 1200’s. In the 13 century it was converted to a Catholic church and enhanced by various kings into the 18th century.
There are orange trees just about everywhere in Southern Spain. We tried an orange to prove what we’d been told. They taste awful, they must be for marmalade.
That night Cheryl and I went for a bath and massage at the Turkish bath (Arabic: Hammam).
Valencia
On Tuesday 26 May we took three taxis to the train station. We backtracked to Madrid so we could get an express train, travelling at between 150 and 301kph, to Valencia (population 800000, third largest city in Spain). Along the way the train stopped to change the bogies to a different gauge.
Cheryl had been unwell so stayed in the hotel (Casual Hotel Florida, read reviews) room to rest while the rest of us had lunch and a walking tour of the city. Since the ‘Great Flood of Valencia’ in 1957 the Turia River was diverted around the city. The original course of the river has been turned into a huge park and the City of Arts and Sciences (Spanish: Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias), modern buildings, bridge and landscaping that form an eye-catching entertainment and cultural precinct. Our next stop was the Fallas Museum (Spanish: Muse Fallero) to see the amazing satirical papier-mâché sculptures, that had survived being burned in La Cremà, the climax of the annual festival.
Breakfast the next day was fartons (spongy or flaky, the ones we had were flaky) and churros with chocolate. A churro is a fried-dough pastry, according to wikipedia, predominantly choux based snack. “Churros are popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Ibero-America and the Southwestern United States. In Spain, churros can either be thin (and sometimes knotted) or long and thick. They are normally eaten for breakfast dipped in champurrado or café con leche.”
The whole tour group did the paella (the Spanish pronounce it as ‘pay ear’) cooking class. We started by going to the markets (read reviews) to buy the ingredients, including beans, rabbit, snails and saffron. The cooking class was a lot if fun especially since it included wine and tapas while we waited for the paella to reduce, until the ‘socarrot‘ formed, then eating the paella.
Cheryl and I caught a local bus that afternoon and had a quick look at the beach.
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