Seeing the Sights that Will Not Be Open Tomorrow

Sunday, June 4, 2017--Cordoba, Spain

Weekends are a bit awkward for seeing sights anywhere, especially if you are not leaving on Monday.  Every place is crowded with tourists on the weekend.  Here in Spain where closing for the afternoon is ingrained in the culture, it means that many places are only open until 14:00 or 15:00 and then closed for the rest of the day.  And if you aren't leaving on Monday, it means planning a Sunday schedule around what will be closed on Monday and saving places that will be open on Monday for that day.

We started this morning by wandering through the Jewish Quarter.  It has even narrower streets than the rest of old town, and they twist and wind more.  I imagine it was probably an intentional design to make it harder for people to come into their neighborhood and cause problems.  Inside the quarter, we went into the old synagogue, one of only three remaining in all of Spain.  It is a simple, small building with lots of carved designs and inscriptions on the walls.

All over town we have been able to see into beautiful gardens in courtyards.  As we left the Jewish quarter, we passed several on our way across the old Roman Bridge to the very modern and new Centro de Arte Contemporaneo (here and here).  There we saw a very interesting exhibit of work by Pepe Espaliu (information about the artist here and pictures of the artist and his works here.

We walked back across the river and went to the Museo de Bellas Artes which is rather small, but had some nice artwork.  From there, we walked to Plaza de Corredera, a large enclosed square (only two corder exits and one side exit with no streets passing through it.  It has a few cafes, and it has been used for bullfights before.  Next, we went to Plaza de Colon, a small park dedicated to Christopher Columbus.  After resting on a bench in front of the fountain watching people for a while, we left there to pass through Plaza Capuchinos which has a statue of Jesus that is popular.  Usually people try to see it at night because of all the votive candles that are brought there regularly.

By then, it was getting hot and everything was closing for the afternoon.  We wandered down one of the main shopping streets and though Plaza Tindillas.  From there, we followed narrow old town streets with small cafes that were beginning to fill with people for afternoon drinks.  As we approached our room, we encountered a group of women in flamenco dresses with a man playing a guitar while they sang as they moved down the street.
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In the early evening we went out again.  We walked across the river again to explore neighborhoods over there.  Then we returned near the Alcazar.  It was already closed for the day, but we could see the beautiful gardens through the gate.  We sat at a local park for a while watching the horse carriages leave with riders and the people wandering the area.  We eventually returned home the long way through more of the old town streets getting back for the night (and a late happy hour) around 20:00.