Spain, Day 21

Appreciating the tough lessons yesterday's heat taught, I ventured out before 9, when the streets were still cool and devoid of vendors and restaurant hosts supplicating tourists. I embraced tourist attraction #1 and the object of considerable study in my freshman seminar: the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Cordoba, as the Medieval Capital of Al-Andalus, possesses a magnificent Arab artistic heritage, the Mosque being the prime artifact testifying to the eminence of the Medieval Iberian State. In the early morning, it was still relatively free of tourists and allowed me free reign to explore the forests of columns and marvel at the ingenious arch designs and impressive engineering that characterized the monument. I shall resist from prattling on further, and instead refer the reader to their local library or the Internet to read about this civilization and its feats. Anyway, though I'm in Spain for the art, it's mostly the edible art.

Finally tearing myself away from the mosque, I went to a 13th century palace built by the Christian kings upon their conquest of the city. Unsurprisingly, it incorporated many arab design elements, most dazzlingly were their cultivation of lush gardens that I wandered through until I remembered I didn't like nature much. This also coincided with the time that it started warming up a bit more than I cared for and I began noticing some bugs and then ran into a spider web.

Fortunately, however, it was time to head to the library. Convenient, since we were approaching noon and the heat showed no signs of abating its intensity. Itching to tackle my stack of books, I appreciated that they were exactly as I had left the day before. The only difference was that I sat in a much more comfortable silence with my recently acquired patron. An hour into my reading, however, I finally broke the ice and asked him a couple questions and that's all it took, suddenly we were fast friends.

The conversation blossomed and took a life of its own as we tackled the continued oppression of Jews in Spain (let's just say we won't be celebrating any Sedars in Spain), discussed an upcoming exhibition at the museum on Inquisitions (both the Early Renaissance one and modern Inquisitions and Persecutions), and lamented the loss of Ladino (the classical language of the Sephardic culture). Again, however, I got the boot after a couple of hours, but this time just before embarrassing stomach grumbling episode number 2.

I eagerly exited, however, anticipating my lunch date with the restaurant I had postponed entering yesterday. A convenient couple of blocks away from where I was working, I arrived with barely a glint of sweat. I checked out the daily menu, and though not particularly impressed with its observation of traditional cuisine, I hungered for a decent meal.

Almudaina did not disappoint. Perhaps it was just effect of comparison to Monday's lunch that I was so moved I began to take notes. I was alone so I didn't much care who saw me; besides, I enjoyed playing the dork and surreptitiously photographing the dishes before me, and to tell the truth the meal deserved chronicling. Sadly, however, it is later than I realized, I need to shave (don't look too closely at any pictures of me) and I plan to wake up early again tomorrow, though I don't have any specific plans in mind. Plus, my writing currently couldn't do justice to the experience. A fitful nighttime rest, however, will allow the memories of the moment to sweeten even further. Until then.