A Tapas Tour & Top View

We had about 45 minutes to relax after our five hour walking tour with Elena before our tapas and wine tour.  And so we did.

Diego is the young man who led our tapas and wine tour.  He also showed us some areas of the city we did not get to cover with Elena (not a complaint, just an observation).  One stop was the beautiful view of a narrow street (alley? path?) with flowers and a view of the church bell tower.  Then Diego took us down to the Mezquita, and then led us into a building and up the stairs to the top.  

We went out onto the rooftop patio on the building just across the street from the Mezquita.  We got to see the great building from a new perspective, and as the sky was getting dark.

At first we weren’t sure whether he was just showing us the view, or if it was the first stop on our wine and tapas tour.  First he opened white Sherry, which we all gamely tried and all admitted immediately.  Often we are polite, and we were in this case, but we were not going to drink wine we did not like.  

Diego gamely admitted that very few who take the tour like the sherry, and he was going to drop it from the wines.  He pulled out some red wine, and served it with tapas of the jamon, cheese, a dish made of chickpea and spinach, and another dish we can not remember.

The night was cool, but having the up close, and up high view of the Mezquita made the shivering worth it, even to Maddy (she’s always cold, it’s only a question of how cold!).

From there we went to a crowded locals tapas bar.  We were entertained by a guy wearing a pink pig suit.  Diego speculated he had lost a bet.  We have some good wine (Diego did not talk much about the wine, so I never got what it was – other than NOT sherry!).  The hit, however, was having two versions of Spanish soup we’ve never had before – one was almond and one was tomato based.  

Torie and I like the tomato-based (Salmorejo Tradicional de Tomate) one better (both are good), while Carol opted for the Almond (Mazamorra).  (Don’t be overly impressed – I only remember the names of the soups because Diego emailed me the recipes.)  Maddy was undecided, but later, in a blatantly cynical effort to suck up to her mother, voted for the Mazamorra (okay, maybe Maddy did like the almond soup best, but since she went against us, we had to attack her!).

We made one more stop, at a bar in the Plaza dela Corredor, but that was just for beer (for me) and Tinto de Verano (for the ladies).

Overall the tour was good, although I was expecting more like the San Sebastian tour (which was too many).  It all worked though, as we went to a very authentic tapas bar and got to see the Plaza dela Corredor, a briefly interesting 17th century Baroque plaza.  The highlight, of course, was the rooftop tapas and wine right next to the Mezquita.  Would definitely recommend doing this if you go to Cordoba.    (The link will take you to the website).