Cordoba

Originally we were planning to go with the bus, leaving at 8.30 AM and to return from Cordoba at 7PM. When I talked to profe Alberto, I just realized that there is a train option. When I checked it, it costs EUR 14 more than the bus, took us less time, only 1 hour 26 minutes (2 hours 50 minutes by bus). I proposed that option to my small group and everyone agreed to opt for train.

The panic moment when you see no bus coming up next.

Train leaves at 7.10 in the morning. The drama started, out of 6 of us who planned to get to the train station with bus, only one, Santi, took the bus. The rest missed the bus because it showed up earlier than the schedule. Donovan, Jake, Aziz and Sarge decided to take taxi, meanwhile, I can't see any taxi passing by. I was lucky that the next bus showed up and the lady in the bus stop said I should make it to the train in time. However, at the second stop, three guys got in with one bus card, so the bus stop and the driver waited so that all of them paid. It made couple of minutes delayed. I was also very lucky that I had been to the train station to get the ticket, so I knew the path from bus stop to the station.

All good, we are in the train safely. Since it is a hot day, an early arrival to Cordoba have an advantage. We walked to the Jewish quarter before Cathedral since Cathedral open from 10 AM, due to Google. In Jewish quarter, we can find some Hebrew writing on the wall or on the street. I don't think I saw those in Jewish quarter in Sevilla. Also, there is a small synagogue, but we didn't get in.

After that, we walk to the Cathedral. Unfortunately, there is a service happening at the church, so we can't get in yet. Luckily, the bell tower is open, so we walked up to see the view from the top. 

Around 3 PM, we entered the Mezquita-Cathedral. For me, this is the most appealing part. The building is dominated by mostly Arabic structure, but the wall´s decoration shows Christianity. However, the colour somehow gave me an impression of an amusement park :(.  It is so hard to me to think that this is a religious place. But when I see the surrounding, the detail on the wall of Christianity is really impressive. I like this place as a building, but again, the number of tourists made this place has no religious feeling. Some tourists even took pictures as if they were in Disneyland, with funny poses. This is a bit disrespectful. 

The gold dominates the ornament made it looks fancy. Some hanging lights consists of a lot of candles light bulb, which in my opinion gives an ancient feeling. 

Other part that is very interesting is the roman bridge! Although with 41 degrees Celcius, it may be less interesting, unless you have great company!

Roman bridge from the other side.. 

Sitting under the Roman bridge to survive the heat while waiting for Cathedral to open

One super lucky thing that happened to me in Cordoba was, a pigeon pooped on my bag! Hahahaha. Jake said something is happening when I was sitting on the side of the road. I was too confused to react fast enough and of course, within a second, I saw a green-white-liquid-ish object on my bag. Hahaha. Soon after that, my bag is called a pooped bag by Donovan! I still think it is lucky that it didn't land on my head, otherwise I will have a pooped head!. LOL 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip. So much laughter all the way, despite a small conflict in it. Thank you Cordoba for treating as nicely :).