The receptionist at the hostel advised us to go to the mosque in the morning and before 10 am, while the mass is going on, to have a free entrance and a quiet time seeing the whole construction and the central plaza. The advice was definitely a good one. First thing in the morning we walked there and even though the place was already full with tourists it was not comparable to 11 am when the long line of tourists waiting to buy their tickets was interminable.
As expected, the extreme beauty of the place cannot be captured with a camera. The area covering the cathedral and the mosque is larger than I imagined…way larger. I noticed a lot of security guards watching people around as soon as I got there, possibly due to the violent issues in the past regarding muslims wanting to pray there. The architecture is as mixed as the history of the place. I was amazed by the number of arches and the granite and marble columns. I am not sure if I paid enough attention to the architecture of the actual cathedral. I was just too connected with the moorish side of it as I had never seen anything like that before.
After almost two hours we headed out to see the outside and its amazing doors and arches. The sun was already out, the plaza was crowded so we did not stayed around much. We wanted to see the Roman bridge and eat lunch earlier. To my surprise the lunch turned out to be snails in a terrace called Caracoles a la Ribera… Yes, caracoles (snails) seem to be a popular dish in Cordoba. I never thought I could try snails but never say never, after two beers I happily ate a plate of “Picantones” which are served in a tomate/paprika sauce.
Once done with the caracoles picantones experience I needed to go for some “real” food. 🙂 I was still hungry and wanting to find a restaurant with tapas or pinchos. It was an unfinished mission which we named “Where the F are the free tapas mission in Cordoba”. Everyone had mentioned to us how incredible tapas are in the south and every time we get to a place and we order a cañita there are no free tapas for this girl and boy. Tapas are good, do not get me wrong, but we had to pay for them. We went to three places: Bar Los Chamacos, El Gazpacho and La Barberia and no luck. I either order a tapa or loose my precious liver in Cordoba.
We did try a yummy berenjena con miel de caña (eggplant with sugarcane honey) and gazpacho. I will continue my search tomorrow but it looks like food places in the touristic areas do not offer the caña of beer with the common tapitas.
We finished a perfect Saturday walking through the Juderia and taking pictures of graffitis, orange trees and ourselves in tiny streets. Many times I was able to touch one side of the street with one hand and the other side with the opposite foot.
