Day One Hundred Twenty Two - May 7

Saturday and all is quiet at the Seville Fair.

We leave Insignia early to catch our train to Cordoba. The outbound train left at 09:25 with a return time of 15:25. Enough time to explore the city. A similiar tour is offered by the ship but it takes almost two hours to get to Cordoba by bus while our journey is only 40 minutes by train. We did have a little stress finding a taxi that early as there were very few around as the fiesta ended around 5am so most taxi drivers were still sleeping. Luckily we met two lovely local gentlemen on their morning walk who helped us so Janice's spanish definitely came in handy that day.

Leaving the train station in Cordoba we walked towards the old section of the city which like most European ones are surrounded by an ancient wall. Security personnel including police were everywhere. Whether this is a normal event or not, I am not sure.

The city of Cordoba is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were in search of the The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba which we found however huge crowds prevented us from going inside.

Near the cathedral you can find the Roman Bridge and Bridge Gate both thought to have been built in the time of Augustus. Halfway across you can see more tourists heading our way so the prudent thing was to turn around. We are leary of Covid and we do not want to miss any further days due to sickness or quarantine.

Back in the walled city we are in search of La Casa de Flores, the street of flowers called Velaquez Bosco Street. Both Janice and I are horrible at reading a map and by miracle we actually find the street. It is a very narrow street with blue flower pots adorning the white walls.

We can see many other balconies where the homeowners are growing bright colour flowers and pots.

The Plaza Tendillas was our final stop for a lunch before returning to the train station. Lunch was a baguette, ham and cheese that we bought at a grocery store and Janice was able to easily get a glass of wine at one of the many bars. Certainly no shortage of bars and cafes in Europe. Although the plaza is small, many fine archtectural buildings surround the plaza. Of importance is the equestrian statue representing Gran Capitan where the horse is wearing a scarf from the local football team's colours- green and white.

It is now back on the ship waiting for the departure to Portimao, Portugal 106 nautical miles away.