Monday, December 16, 2013

Days 43 and 44: Cordoba and The Great Escape Therefrom

Day 43: Cordoba

Yesterday's clouds and rains completely fled, and today dawned bright, clear, and sunny, as things should be in a city that is one of Europe's very sunniest.  Cordoba was also quite welcoming in its people, with very friendly hostel hosts, and nice people everywhere I went.  They say the most beautiful women in Spain are in Cordoba, and though I don't really know about that, people were typically laid back and Andalucian as any I had seen so far.  In Granada, I learned a new verb: "tapiar"- which apparently is "to eat tapas". Here, that transformation of noun into verb entirely makes sense. 

Anyway, I tried to squeak in some logistics before a walking tour I wanted to take by going to the bus station and getting tickets and unfortunately was kind of rebuffed at the bus station and train station, who seemed to have either a ban on transporting bikes (the latter) or lots of weird restrictions that my high schoolSpanish was not up to comprehending in the time I had.  

So I shelved that for the day, and took a very informative walking tour of the historic district that laid a good background of the city's rich history and pointedout several sites I wanted to see later.  The main tour was in Spanish, but a new tour guide in training was nice enough to do an English version for me and a Dutch fellow who was staying at my hostel.  

We got along well, this fellow and I, and had much the same feelings about maximizing our sightseeing for the afternoon, so we saw the Alcazar castle, made a point to have lunch at the famous "tortilla" place ( which here means a gigantic potato quiche-like dish, except you wash it down with beer), and of course toured the wonderful Mesquita mosque.  

This complex is especially excellent because you can plainly see the various additions and alterations various successive conquerers made to it.  Glass panels in the floor reveal mosiacs from the Roman basilica that used to stand here, and the columns of the place were apparently borrowed from both the Romans and the later Visigoths.  The bulk of the vast building (and mp by most accounts, the best), is the work of the Moors, who constructed the distinctive double arches made of alternating brick and stone that make the interior so striking, not to mention some exquisite carved wood ceilings. Though the Catholics who reconquered the area in the 1300's restrained themselves friom major renovations for a few centuries, they eventually could not resist building a very flashy rennessance cathedral smack in the middle of the mosque, a move even King Phillip later regarded as a mistake.  Be that as it may, this arecetectual hodge-podge makes for fascinating visiting, and I think might be my favorite of the major monuments I saw in Andalucia.  We saw a couple other notable churches after that, just to slam dunk the sightseeing day, and then relaxed over some wine and tapas.  

Before dinner, I tried again at the bus station, but most of the windows were closed, and my bright idea to rent a car instead was shot down because you can't drop a car in a different country than you rented it, apparently.  I bowed to fate, and went with some hostel people to grab a couple drinks and food, which was pleasant, though I was a little worried about how the heck I was going to get out of town with my time running out.  Got to bed at a relatively recently hour, and enjoyed my de facto private room. 

 

Day 44: The Great Escape (from Cordoba).

Imagine, if you will, my mental state via a via travel logistics yesterday as Bill Paxton's character from "Aliens"- you know, the guy who fell to pieces when things looked grim, shouting "Game over, man"?  Well, after my Plan D fell through last night, I am happy to say I felt an unconscious mental shift this morning to a different set of movie military characters.  I visualized them as a group of WWII-era British POWs in my brain, casually brushing aside the panicked space marine and calmly but firmly taking charge.

(Cue theme from The Great Escape)

"So this is a spot of bother, then.  There seems no way to exit bloody Cordoba."
"Oh dear.  Well, chaps, let us think.  Wait just a moment, didn't that woman at the hostel tell us we should seek advice from that chap at the bicycle store?"
"Capital thinking, Lt. Memory!  Let's go!"
"Bloody hell. This fellow only speaks Spanish.  Corporal High School Spanish, give it a go.  There's a good chap."
"Yes sir.  Hmm... I can't make out all of it sir, but it seems we need this scrap cardboard he is giving us, plus a lot of celo wrap and gaffer tape!"
"So it wasn't a box we needed at all!  Great Scott, we've cracked the code!  Where can we get such things on a Sunday?"
"He's drawing us a map, sir.  It's close."
"Excellent, now that we have the supplies, it's back to the bus station.  Corporal, we need you again, I'm afraid."
"Right-o, sir.  Well, they seem satisfied with our large supply of cello wrap.  Again, they are giving me a lot of instructions I don't understand, but they are printing out tickets...."
"Fine work, Corporal.  Blast! This bus leaves in an hour and our bags are back in the hostel!  Can we ride there and back, disassemble and pack the bicycle in that time?"
"Sure we can."
"Why it's Captain Legs!  The plucky American they could never break!"
"The very same.  You know, I've been pretty hard after it for the last six weeks and I reckon I can just pull it off."
"Top drawer, Captain!  You HAVE pulled it off!  Privates Gitter and Dunn!  Dismantle this bike and cover it with cardboard, wrap, and tape!  Quick's the word and sharp's the action!  You have fifteen minutes!"
"It won't be pretty, sir, but we can manage it."
"Ye gads! that is horrific, but it will serve, now to get it past the surly driver..."
"Sir!  We've done it!  We're on the bus and leaving Cordoba!"
"Of course we are, lads.  Never doubted it for a moment." 

3 comments:

  1. The luckiest part of this whole thing was getting a shot of the mezquita sin gente. Just about miraculous actually.

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  2. "You've fooled me twice... there won't be a third time!"

    ReplyDelete