Córdoba: Semana Santa

Tuesday night, we flew to Lisbon on TAP Air Portugal. The plane was an aging widebody Airbus with hard seats, really good food and nice service. It was short for a transatlantic flight, but we were able to sleep for some short hours. Maria didn’t know where we were going until we got into the terminal at Logan, and even then, she didn’t know the final destination. The next flight was to Málaga, then an hour train up to Córdoba.

Córdoba was founded by the Romans in the second century BC. It was the capital of Moorish Spain from 719 until the 13th century. There is a Roman bridge across the river and lots of Arab influence. Narrow, winding streets to make it hard for invaders, plain-fronted buildings that hide beautiful patios. Our Airbnb is an old patio building, with a flower-filled courtyard that makes me sneeze.

Today, we took a food tour with our guide Diego. He did a nice job of showing us around Córdoba.

We started with breakfast at the best hotel in town, which recently discovered a Roman house in their basement. The dining room is above, with a glass floor, so diners can look down and see the Roman ruin. Hotel guests can’t go down there, but Diego used to work there, knows everyone, and has the key.

After breakfast, we went into the old part of the city. Because it’s Easter week, bigger than Christmas here, there are lots of celebrations. Every evening, they have processions, where they carry huge floats depicting scenes of Jesus’ last week. Diego took us to a garage where two of these floats were parked. They weigh thousands of pounds and are carried by 40 men who are hidden underneath the float.

Because it’s Holy Thursday (Batman!), everything is closed, so Diego skipped some food aspects, like visiting the market. We visited some patios, as well as the Royal stables before climbing to a rooftop overlooking the cathedral, where he served us lunch, which consisted of our favorites: Serrano ham, chorizo, lomo, manchego cheese, and wine. We’re going back to this place tonight to watch the processions from this excellent vantage point.

(Later this evening) Well, it didn’t happen. Because of threatened rain, they cancelled the processions this evening. So we strolled the streets, stopped in some shops to get sweets and sandwiches for dinner, then came back to the apartment to relax. So I’m going to relax now and stop writing.