Sotos de Albolafia

Cordoba is located on the same river, the Guadalquivir, as Seville is but further upstream. At one time ships could come all the way to Cordoba from the Atlantic, but due to silting the river has become unnavigable now.

It has a long Roman and Moorish past and was chosen as the regional capital for both empires. During the Dark Ages, when most of Europe was barbaric and illiterate, Cordoba was a “haven of enlightened thought - famous for religious tolerance, artistic expression and dedication to philosophy and the sciences.”

We really enjoyed exploring the old city. Most of the sights are nearby, just across the river from our hotel, so we easily were able to put 11 km on our pedometer. The day was gorgeous with blue skies and full sunshine.

We wandered through the Jewish Quarter, passed the Calleja de las Flores (Flower Lane), saw the city walls from the 12th Century and statues honouring Cordobas great thinkers, and lots of patios and gardens. Of course, there were lots of tour and student groups but it was easy to avoid them.

A treat for us was finding the tiny free museum/art gallery called Casa-Museo del Guadamecí Omeya. The museum features five rooms with gorgeous leather items, as well as tools and information regarding the ancient art of decorating leather called Guadamecí. Only one man in the world knows how to do it. His display inside was mind boggling especially after we watched the video of the painstakingly time-consuming process. We weren’t allowed to take photos but I did find a couple online.

http://snobb.net/2021/05/the-classic-art-of-cor…

We found a great tapas bar close to our hotel called Miguelito’s and ate there a couple of times. We wanted to try some of the regional food without prejudging. Haha. So we actually enjoyed eating Rabo de Toro (bull’s tail) and a plateful of Patitas de Calamari (breaded and fried squid tentacles). Both were surprisingly delicious.

We stopped in at the Royal Stables and bought tickets to see their horse, flamenco and art show. With our tickets, we could wander around the stables and take photos of the beautiful Andalusian horses in training and practising their moves for the show. More about the stables in the next footprint.

In the morning we heard sirens and horns honking. An Andalusian cycling race had just started. Exciting to watch from our rooftop terrace!

Note - We loved the leather art work so much that we bought a small piece for our travel souvenir wall at the cottage.Read more