When the GPS warns you that it cannot complete the guidance to your hotel as it is is not accessible, or in fact ‘off the grid’, you take note but then soldier on. Then when your GPS gives up because the maze of streets are so narrow that your antenna can’t pick up any signals, you become concerned. But you soldier on. Then when you are navigating through a labyrinth of one way streets just as school has been dismissed, and you have no signals to follow, you start to panic. That’s what Ms X did, however Mr X was as cool as, even when he circumnavigated a public square where NO cars are allowed. Even when Mr X went down the narrowest of streets only to come across an extremely obese Spaniard coming towards him, with prevented both from passing, he acted as if he was on a banana lounge. Re-enactment of said Spaniard ducking into doorway. Both made it I can report. Even when he attempted to go down a one way street and then to be told by a Spaniard through sign language that he shouldn’t, it was if he was practising meditation. He remained calm throughout. Ms X however was freaking out, on the verge of tears. And she wasn’t even driving. Mr X did deposit her at the end of this adventure near another public square where he was illegally parked and instructed her to find the hotel. It was only through a Spanish miracle that she did. Thank goodness for all those Spanish saints!

Now, onto Córdoba….

Although this place and our two travellers got off to a rocky start, there soon was lots to discover and love about the place. For a start, who doesn’t like a Roman bridge even though it may have had a makeover or two or three and who doesn’t appreciate some Roman ruins scattered about the place. Now it must be noted that our Córdoban neighbours don’t quite hold those ruins in as much high esteem as our Italian friends as they did need a bit more TLC than they had been afforded. Some signage also may have been helpful.

Just when you have headed over that bridge waiting for some more historical landmarks to greet you when surprise, surprise you find a Beer Festival with food trucks nearby and of course some music and some dancing in the street which has no longer provided the novelty for our travellers that it first did. This time a family doing the Macarena in full Spanish style as it no doubt was originally intended was today’s offering.

Córdoba was always full of surprises with its beautiful gardens that just appeared out of nowhere.

The star of Córdoba however is its Mezquita which was the site of a former mosque before those Christians arrived in town. You know how it ends. A cathedral appears out of nowhere and the remains of the mosque are hard to find. Well this was not exactly how it ended here. A cathedral did get plonked in the middle with a very Renaissance extension on the side however much of the Moorish design has been left intact thank goodness. The 856 columns are too difficult to describe. They are amazing and such an architectural feat. Now after many years in Catholic education, Ms X and Mr X thought that they were aficionados of all those with ‘Saint’ before their names. After circumnavigating the entire Mezquita layout where individual saints have their own altars, they can now profess to know very little. They must have been handing out sainthoods back then like Christmas cards!, some even got pole position in the middle of the Mezquita. Not sure if it was due to favouritism or the politics of the day. One of those ‘suspect saints’ pictured above.

Córdoba had some great eating spots and some places to relax and enjoy a favourite activity of our travellers- a BOFFEE (beer and coffee). With fun thrown in as a bonus!

As we come to the end of this post, you have probably realised that our two travellers were faced with the opposite problem to what they started with. The had to get the car out of this maze. Let’s just say there is a lot to be said to getting up early while the rest of Córdoba is sleeping and sometimes that can let you ignore some of those one way streets (who’s watching) and you can also repeat your party trick of driving around and through public squares. Relax, our rotund Spaniard was still safely pushing zzzzzzs.