Travel Day number 2!

We landed in Madrid at about 9 am Madrid time. It took us no time at all to get through immigration, get the train to the main T4, and then walk through the line where they checked to make sure we had a QR code issued by the Spanish government. This code is given to you online two days before your flight, after you provide the information on your vaccines. No one actually ever checked the vaccination card, so the trust quotient is pretty high. The booth had one of those long snaky lines like they have at airport security, but there were no people there!

I had thought the train tickets to Córdoba were all sold out, but when I checked in the Renfe office at the airport, they found me two seats not together on a train at 2:30. That gave us another 3 hour wait, but we’re getting used to those. If the weather had been nice, we would have walked through the Retiro for an hour or so, but it was raining. And I just didn’t feel like the Reina Sofia, which we had visited on our last Madrid trip. So we took the Cercanías to Atocha and sat outside under a cover and drank café con leche!

By 5 we were in our hotel, which is a nice, small place in an old building, Eurostars Azahar. Joe took a nap and I went to the elliptical, and then took a stroll around town to get my bearings. I went past the Hotel Seneca, where I stayed when walking the Mozárabe in 2019, and made my way down to the mezquita. What a beautiful little city.

We had dinner in Taberna Góngora close to the hotel. Salmorejo was YUMMY (Córdoba’s version of gazpacho, a little creamier and with jamón serrano). Green asparague grilled and eggplant with honey for the finale. Now after 26 hours of travel I am ready to go to bed!Read more