Plank Road: Rambling in Cordoba

Corboda is a great town to walk in, we generally don’t know where we are, but seem to angle in the direction we need to go and it all works out. As we are used to long distances, we always overshoot and miss our turns, the city is more compact than we think.

There are plazas everywhere with numerous tables set outside near bars and restaurants. The Spanish tend to have a small breakfast of café and a sweet, then a late lunch, then drinks and tapas, which are small food items, and lastly a very late dinner. John and I simply order café con leche, which is coffee with milk. The café is very good, no bitter Timmies here. This afternoon, the majority of the locals were quaffing beer.

This morning we set out for Palacio de Viana, a restored Renaissance home of the nobility which has several courtyard gardens. Our timing was very good as we had time to walk through the gardens prior to the guided tour. As the tour was only in Spanish, we were given a guidebook in English, other than a French speaking man, the remainder of the visitors were Spanish. Off-season travel is the very best as foreigners are rare and the touring Spanish are plentiful. They are so polite and well behaved, it is a pleasure. We stood at the back of the pack, since it did not matter if we could hear; however, the guide would clue us into some pertinent information in English after she was finished talking in Spanish.

We don’t normally go on this type of tour but there was so much variety and wonderful tapestries, paintings, leather art, tiles, furnishings, chandeliers, porcelain, glassware, guns and mudejar style ceilings, that the tour was really worth while.

One of the harquebuses (rifles) was completely decorated on the metal with chisel work and the sight at the end of the barrel was made with a diamond set within a border of diamonds.

After leaving Viana, we walked over to Plaza de Colon and sat on a bench to have our lunch, then we walked across the street to view the restored facade of the Convento de la Merced, which is used as a government building rather than a convent.

Next we walked to the Plaza de las Tendillas, this was the centre of town when the Romans held Spain. We had un café con leche, then carried on to the Archaeological Museum, where we are in our element. The admission was free for some reason we could not figure out. This is a great little museum and we gushed about it to the English speaking staff member at the desk when we left. The Spanish appear to be very particular regarding their cultural and historical heritage. Signage is in both Spanish and English and the displays are top notch, we stayed in there a long time going over every inch of the place. The museum is built overtop of a ruined Roman theatre, one can go down and visit what little is remaining but the visual displays are very good. It was really helpful to already know about the Roman era as well as the Visigoths and the Moors.

We wandered back to our zone and had a look at the Roman temple that is just down the street from our apartment. Our apartment is in a wonderful area, close to everything and quiet but it is not in the tourist area.

Tomorrow we get our rental car and head further south in Andalucia.

Palacio de Viana: Reception Courtyard