Do you read guidebooks and websites obsessively before you visit a place? Are you ever then disappointed by the visit because it doesn't live up to the hype? It's happened to me before. One of the reasons I usually only glance at the guides the night before my visit now. So I don't set my expectations too high. For me Cordoba was just the opposite. I glanced at it in my hubby's guide book the night before we went. Only 1 page dedicated to it and three sites listed. Suffice to say my expectations were set pretty low, especially after our visit to Toledo.
Arriving at the train station which is unremarkable and set in the newer part of town I was glad my expectations were low. Now there was nothing wrong with the train station or it's location, but it was just another train station in another city. When you travel as much as I do for work these things are unremarkable. We headed out to the day and I was determined to enjoy it for what it was - another city, but nothing special. Boy was I wrong.
Making our way to the old centre the scenery soon changed from modern wide boulevards to the cobble stone lanes that I love. Our first stop was Alcazar - where we wandered through buildings and gardens and even climbed a tower for our first view of the old city on high.
The surprise of the day was heading over the bridge and finding a medieval markets of sorts. What I mean by that is the market was styled in a medieval style - all the vendors were dressed in garments depicting what I guess a medieval market looked like and the booths were tents with flags everywhere. The thing is they were selling modern items and delicious food - and chocolate. Regardless of the unique clash of period costume with modernity it's a market and markets are awesome. We spent a lot of time wandering around, sampling meat and cheese. This is Spain after all - meat and cheese is pretty much a staple.
Heading back into town we visited the Cathedral and spent the rest of the day wandering the town.
Cordoba was just a day trip - one that I had not been excited about. I love it when a town proves me wrong.
Want to read all my posts on Spain? You can find them here.
Arriving at the train station which is unremarkable and set in the newer part of town I was glad my expectations were low. Now there was nothing wrong with the train station or it's location, but it was just another train station in another city. When you travel as much as I do for work these things are unremarkable. We headed out to the day and I was determined to enjoy it for what it was - another city, but nothing special. Boy was I wrong.
Making our way to the old centre the scenery soon changed from modern wide boulevards to the cobble stone lanes that I love. Our first stop was Alcazar - where we wandered through buildings and gardens and even climbed a tower for our first view of the old city on high.
The surprise of the day was heading over the bridge and finding a medieval markets of sorts. What I mean by that is the market was styled in a medieval style - all the vendors were dressed in garments depicting what I guess a medieval market looked like and the booths were tents with flags everywhere. The thing is they were selling modern items and delicious food - and chocolate. Regardless of the unique clash of period costume with modernity it's a market and markets are awesome. We spent a lot of time wandering around, sampling meat and cheese. This is Spain after all - meat and cheese is pretty much a staple.
Heading back into town we visited the Cathedral and spent the rest of the day wandering the town.
Cordoba was just a day trip - one that I had not been excited about. I love it when a town proves me wrong.
Want to read all my posts on Spain? You can find them here.
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