Cow´s brain.

Day two in Cordóba wasn´t too exciting. It was pretty cloudy and overcast outside so museums were the way to go. I managed to make it in one piece(almost got hit by a bus...no joke) to the Popular Costumes and Traditions Museum. It was pretty interesting....but I´m starting to think I need a break from museums for while.

I spent the better part of the morning at the museum just wandering. It was a very blah type of morning. I woke up with a massive headache and it looks like my cold hasn´t yet resided. Boo. After the museum what I wanted to do was go back to sleep, BUT I hate wasting a day like that. So I walked around the town all afternoon. Thankfully the rain didn´t come...it looked like it was going to pour, but it didn´t start raining until I was finishing dinner.

Most of the old town of Cordóba is influenced by the Arabs...this entire region of Spain is influeced by the Arabs. I was excited to see the gardens in peoples homes...but was sadly dissapointed when I came across a poster for the garden tour that stated that it had happened LAST weekend. Bummer. I still enjoyed my walk around the town. Visited the old Jewish synagogue(one of only three left in Spain) and was surprised by how small it is. But it was very pretty on the inside. Unfortunately it didn´t have any souvenirs or I would have bought some for my Jewish friends.

It was right after siesta here and the stores were opening up again so I stopped at this quaint bar by the river and had myself a glass(or two) of wine with a small tapa. Tapas here are either the appetizer or the entire meal. I´m a secret foodie. Really, it´s not that big of a secret. I have a love/hate relationship with food. And when I´m on vacation I´m into trying the native cuisine. So instead of me trying to decide what to eat for tapas, I have the waiter bring me out his favorites. I alos let him pair my food selections with the wine. I have had great luck this way in discovering new and delicious wines.

When my tapas arrive I´m a bit skeptical. One is this yellow-white piece of what looks like meat. The other are meatballs(Spanish style...just like mamá) and the other is Andalusian ham wrapped around melon cubes. I´ve had the meatballs and the ham and melon combo before, so my interest lies in the meat like dish. My curiosity is piqued...and you know how curious I can be. I ask the waiter what the name of the dish is and he says some long name I can´t remember right now. But it definately did not describe the dish. The wine he pairs it with is this delicious rose wine, more of a sherry than a wine. Delicious. So I dive into my tapas. I enthusiastically go for the unknown meat and I´m pleasently surprised. It´s meaty, but not chicken or fish. A bit more rubbery, yet satisfying. And it´s covered in olive oil(everything here is covered in olive oil) and garlic so it´s pretty good. I have some of the unknown meat and the meatballs, saving the ham and melon combo for last. I quickly devour the tapas as they are pretty tiny dishes and combined make a very satisfying meal. The waiter was very kind and kept topping my glass with wine while making chit chat with me. As I´m finishing the ham and melon(very good combination I might say) and just take the view of the river in. I pretty much finished the bottle of wine that was placed in front of me so I´m feeling pretty good. When the waiter brings me the check he asks how everything was and I say it was delicious(because it really was) and I inquire at the origin of the unknown meat. He gives me this puzzled look because he clearly thought he had explained it earlier. As it turns out what I just consumed is a delicacy here and the rough translation is COW´s brain. Yup folks, that´s probably the weirdest thing I´ve eaten. It does explain the rubberiness to it. I had a good laugh with the waiter and while it was pretty good I know I would have never ordered it myself.

I make my way slowly along the river as the sun is setting over the clouds and get back to my hostel. I really have no plans for the night seeing as how nightlife in Codóba is pretty nonexistent and really, I just had a bottle of wine to myself. But the other three girls in my room are going to the fair, so I decide to join in.

We cross the river to the fair and it´s a pretty exciting little fair that has come to town. It looks like the entire town is at the fair. All the girls and women are dressed in traditional Flamenco dresses(which are beautiful) and hundreds of people are milling around, despite the cold rainy weather. We walk around and head into one of many covered areas where music is playing. We stumble across a tent with spanish music and people dancing Flamenco! It was awesome, we kind of join in, but not really. I rather take some pictures of the atmosphere. The lighting was pretty aweful and I didn´t have my tripod but hopefully some will turn out. We continue walking around the fair and going in and out of tents, it was actually alot of fun seeing all the people dressed up and being merry. As we were leaving the fair they had fireworks. Fireworks always make me think of home and of an old friend who´s birthday was July 4th. We just stood on the bridge, in the light rain and watched the fireworks.