So far we have done three round trips from the hotel to the centre and I'm sure we have gone a different way each time, not intentionally, but the small lanes going in all directions make following an intended route quite challenging. It seems that if I don't check the map at every intersection, hoping to find the cross road on the map, it's just too easy to go off on a tangent. We always get there in the end though. We call them "scenic detours".
Have I mentioned that the lanes are narrow? You can understand that bicycles, motorcycles and motorscooters would have no trouble, but even cars go down them and even large panel pans in the wider ones. You have to get out of their way by stepping up onto the "footpath", often not much more then a foot and a half wide, or into a doorway. The drivers are careful though and they do not speed. I think they would be lynched if they ever ran over anyone. This afternoon we observed how a woman skillfully exited her garage and made a sharp left, with only several inches to spare on either side - Toyota Yaris. Her passenger was totally nonchalant and paid no attention to the proceedings. Because of the way houses are/were built here, most of them have parking in the building on the ground floor, or in what was the basement, so there is potential for a significant volume of cars. Sorry no picture as yet but one will come.
The Alcazar was another huge surprise. This is the advantage of not having done any research myself, leaving it all to dear Joan. It's a combination palace and large formal gardens. Most of the building, which had many rooms, was of Moorish origin, with many rooms having a Catholic overlay, ranging from subtle additions to almost total supplantation. The large halls, used for receptions we think, had a particularly Spanish imperial flavour. There were lots of tiled walls and much carved stonework. There were some huge tapestries in one of these halls, depicting scenes from the Triunfo, the triumph over the Moors. The square outside is called Plaza del Triunfo. We had seen prominent references to the Triunfo in Cordoba as well.
On exiting the Alcazar we were perplexed to see a backhoe on the square between the Alcazar and the cathedral, in a taped off area. The backhoe seemed to be swinging around and extending the arm at random. We hoped it was not going to dig up the square. A man was walking around the hoe at the same time. Eventually the penny dropped: this was a rehearsal for an artistic performance of dance that evening. Strange props.
On the way back we intended to check out the whereabouts of a laundry in our area listed in the LP. Just as well we went there empty-handed, as there was no evidence of it at the given address. Bummer, now we (ahem, Joan) have to do it ourselves in the sink, as the hotel rates for this are outrageous.
We went out to dinner at a place recommended by the concierge. We had a cheese and salmon salad followed by grilled fish – the first we have had this trip. The food was good but the service would have made Manuel look like a top maitre d’. We had to repair to another establishment around the corner for a drink to calm me down. This was a very lively place, and quite entertaining to watch, as the barman literally chalked up your tab on the bar counter. I’ve never seen this before and Joan hasn’t since her Hull days.
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