The 3 Flamencos of Spain; Part 2

Having started with he biggest and most touristic Flamenco, it was time to move on to the second: Córdoba.
Happy as I can be, I bought myself a train ticket in the train station of Sevilla Santa Justa. This would be my first train trip in Spain and afyer spending the last few hours walking around in the city of Sevilla, I found myself returning to the train station. Exit Over-tourism!
A short trip of 70 minutes with an 160km/h in an what seemed to be a very simple light rail train, I could enjoy the dry and reasonably flag landscape of Andalucia, interrupted by a few hills. Half way the trip the sky decided to change her colors to dark blue and then to wet. Although depending on which side of the train you were looking. That is what I discovered when suddenly a bright rainbow appeared, all the way down to the earth, unobstructed by clouds, hills or buildings. For me it was the second time seeing a rainbows touchdown on earth. A few kilometers further I even saw three rainbows at the same time, nature can be so beautiful! And it made me wondering what people hundreds of years would have been thinking whe. They saw a rainbow...with the tought of the 'bad gods' being angry when it is thundering for example. Would there have been anyone like Columbus searching for the end of the rainbow?
At about 19.00 I arrived in Córdoba. First thing I did was grabbing my phone to make a call, because my new couchsurf hist promissed to pick me up from the train station. And Ramon, a Spanish guy from a small vilage just near Córdoba, kept to his word and he was already waiting for me. We shaked hands and We went straight into the center. Ramon is very anxious of showing around his guests combined with the nice stories about the city and its history, just the thing everybody is waiting for when they want to know a little more about where they are and what they see.

First to the Juderia, the old part of the city where the Jewish used to life. Again all the little streets, but since he click already showed the evening hours, it was pretty quiet in the streets with only locals and no tourist to be seen! Perfect! Just as I wished it to be!
We walked around aimlesly trying the different streets. Most of the streets have their name tagged with the traditional Spanish letters in ceramic tiles. At some point we arrived at a little corner at a very 'behind-street' and on the wall, a jolly guy actually renamed the street with the traditional letters printed on a computer, to 'He encontrado un atajo'. Translated to 'i found a shortcut'.Kind as Ramon was, he took his time to tell me all the stories and history of Córdoba which he was aware of. There was a lot to tell like the originations of the Juderia and the newer Roman center, le gran Kapitan, the big mosque near the river and the modern new bridge which he found very ugly compared with the old fashioned surroundings.
He told me so much that unfortunately I cannot recap everything.
Ramon took all the effort to show me the nice little bars only known by locals, and together we tasted the local wine from his home village Montilla and neighbouring village Morilas. When in. Spain you must eat tapas. Córdoba is a student cityso you can have student tapas: fries with burger. Obviously that was not our destination and we headed for different tapas bars. There was a lot of very tasty food to try but pretty much everything is fried. As if I was back in Manchester :) though still the quality was incomparable!!
Ramons faborite place was closed unfortunately so we ended up at a terrace elsewhere.
Since Ramon really wantex to bring me to this über local bar for some tapas, he proposed me to go for lunch the their the next day when it was open again. Who am I not to agree enjoying to taste Spain as a real Spanish!
The next day while Ramon did some work on his project at the university, I decided to randomly walk around through the different areas of the center. Amazing what a different atmosphere compared with the evening before. And te closer I came to the mosque and the river, these beautiful little streets suddenly were no beautiful little streets anymore! They turned into cheap little shopping streets with only touristy products you can buy in any touristy city in any country! The streets full with only tourists! Such a shame of what I remembered from the before and I was happy tjat my first impression was by evening. I quickly tried to forget this tasteless tourist attraction.
Luckily it became noon soon, and I met Ramon at the big square with the Gran Kapitan, with his white head while the rest of his body and horse has he bronze color. This to remember how he was murdered with his heas chopped of.
First a beer in the streets, like all the Spanish business man do announcing their siesta in the summer. With an empty beer glas left behind we moved on to the local of all locals! Very interesting to enter hear. No decoration but a few old photos of Spain. The walls badly painted into the old fashioned creme color. Walls at the weirdest places and with two tables surrounded by the oldies of Córdoba. This was sniffing culture! We ordered different tapas, while Ramon explained me the idea of the crunchy bread sticks, neatly wrapped in nice red-white paper.
To draw attention from the waiter, each table had a bell. When pressed, a buzzing sound came from the bar, and at the wall hang beautiful piece of ordinary 'handyness'. A little machine, white papers displaying which table pressed the bell. Such a paper-system like they use in the train station announcing the trains. So convenient!

Having tried the tapas and the local wine means having tried Córdoba so it was time for me the thank Ramon for being a great and very interesting host who is the proud owner of one of these old bmx bikes!! With the vintage brand on the steering!

Thanks very much again Ramon, you made my stay in Córdoba unforgettable!