It’s been a quiet day. After a decent breakfast the chap in reception confirmed that he’d allocated a parking spot for us downstairs so we trotted off to pick up the car.

The car park was larger than I’d realised when we first parked and was full of enormous motorhomes who’d clearly been there overnight. Last night there were few obvious spaces, this morning there were lots suggesting that many of yesterday’s car based visitors were from out of town. Not sure that’s indicative of anything but it helps to explain the thousands of people wandering the streets.

Having parked safely we headed back towards the Alcazar on foot. The streets were far emptier, it was Sunday morning, most restaurants and shops were closed and it was raining gently.

With less pedestrian traffic, we took the opportunity to walk across the bridge opposite the Alcazar

The river was clearly relatively low, not many of the arches had water flowing through them.

On the opposite bank we found the first indication that Córdoba lies on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago.

The Camino Mozarabe starts on the coast in Almeria and makes its way through Granada and Córdoba, joining the via de la Plata a short way north of Seville. It’s a route we’ve often thought about walking but it’s much more hard core than the Frances or even the Primitivo.

Accommodation is far more sparse which means longer walking days and food and water are much more difficult to find apparently so we’d need to be a lot more organised in our planning. As a Camino I’ve no doubt it would be an epic trip but not to be undertaken lightly.

As the capital city in Muslim Spain, Córdoba was a major centre of education and learning and apparently in the 10th century was the second largest city in Europe. Conquered by the Christians in 1236 the huge mosque was converted into a cathedral. It’s an impressive structure.

Dorothy had identified a Syrian restaurant as one of the few where we could realistically expect to find a vegan meal. Falafel and rice accompanied by sparkling water met the bill perfectly.

During the Muslim period from the eighth to the eleventh centuries harmony between Christians, Muslims and Jews was the order of the day and the Jewish quarter is an impressive warren of narrow streets near the cathedral.

The architecture around the cathedral is impressive.

It’s now a little before 5 o’clock and time for another wander before the light fades.

Two small glasses of vino Tito and a couple of tapas later we’re ready to make the relatively short trek back to the hotel.

There’s a quartet playing now through loud speakers but it’s not Shostakovich. More importantly, people are enjoying it.

It’s a relatively warm evening in Córdoba and similarly to last night, thousands of people are out enjoying the ambience. The restaurants and bars are full, life proceeds apace.

We’ve made our way back to the hotel after a brief circumnavigation of Victoria’s covered market rocking and rolling with sound and colour.

Currently there’s no indication that last night’s two hours of baby screaming is to be repeated 🤞. We have assumed that the parents must have left it to it’s own devices, there’s really no way that any responsible adult would have allowed a young toddler to scream incessantly from 9:30 – 11:30 pm.

Dorothy’s made tea, our brief interlude in Córdoba is nearly over. Tomorrow after breakfast we’ll head south to Conil de la Frontera and five nights in an apartment. Very much looking forward to spending time with friends.

Buenas noches