CORDOBA

Once we arrived in Cordoba we checked into our hotel and experienced a bit of a change in culture. Upon walking into our hotel room my roommate for the trip and I realized our lights weren’t working. We figured the electricity was just out in our room so we opened our blinds for some light to find a huge balcony overlooking Cordoba! It was beautiful we were on the 6th floor so we were atop most of the smaller houses and buildings. After about ten minutes of the lights being off we looked around the room a bit more to discover a little slot above the light switch. In order to turn the lights on you needed to insert your room key! A very clever idea and way of saving energy and money, props to the Spaniards for that one. In our bathroom we had a toilet and of course a duvet I think they are called which us college kids being so mature got a kick out of. We ate dinner in the hotel then were off to discover Cordoba. After a few hours of shopping we decided to stop for a drink. What did we find? An Irish Pub! We watched the football (soccer) game and enjoyed a few little snacks. After that we went back to the hotel to change our outfit for the real night. In Spain people don’t start to go out until 12-12:30 at night and then stay out until like 6 in the morning! It’s ridiculous! Definitely was a bit too much for me. I being the Iowa student that I am with the standard 2 am bar close left early. While out we stumbled upon a few club promoters which are typically young men in their twenties who are paid to bring people into their clubs. They gave our group of about 15 or so free drink cards so we were off to Colors. I decided against going cause I was all danced out and wanted to go to a different place. We went to a small little Spanish bar that had darts and pool tables and stuff. The next day I was thankful that I went to the Spanish bar because Colors had turned out to be a gay bar, get it Colors like colors of the rainbow? We all got quite a laugh out of it. I’m sure this club promoter just looks for Americans who don’t have a clue where they are going and decides to bring them to Colors! In the morning we went on a city orientation of Cordoba in the old city district. It was absolutely beautiful. We visited this former mosque that was turned into a church during the inquisition. The church destroyed most of the Muslim features but kept a few out of respect. In mosques the walls that Muslims pray on are the ones facing Mecca. Here there was very elaborate decorations, with gold plated walls, a dome ceiling, and two different rooms housing the Koran. The Catholics dared not to break down this wall, instead they boarded it up with wooden planks so that it was not exposed. I wish I had the words to explain how gorgeous this church was. It was not anything like a typical church. It was MASSIVE! It had many restorations and renovations going on too so it was pretty loud. Overall I loved Cordoba. Today it is a relatively small Spanish town but it houses so much history.