We didn’t have a plan today, great for me but barely credible for Susie who researches and organises everything. We began by crossing the river at Puente de Miraflores, walking along the riverbank and crossing back over on the Puente Romano into the lower city centre. There aren’t good views of Cordoba from the opposite bank, trees and bushes are in the way. To get up to the Roman bridge we walked under it and up a ramp to the street. There were one or two stalls at the roadside, one of which caught our attention as she was selling ‘bio’ drinks. Susie ordered a multi fruit one which she blitzed and I thought I’d try a ‘bio’ lemonade, both in non biodegradeable plastic cups. Again she blitzed every ingredient, asked if I’d like mint in it to which I agreed and presented a very chilled and un-lemonade looking drink in a fetching dirty yellow colour. I took a sip from the straw and immediately my mouth shrivelled up. It was possibly the most acidic thing I’ve ever had and fairly undrinkable.

We sat on a bench near the bridge observing the tribes of walking groups, whilst I prised my mouth open periodically to sip the lemonade. Horrible it may have been but it had been paid for. Like many other European cities, weddings are held on Saturdays and while we sat, there was a steady passage of well dressed guests heading towards town. A bride and groom appeared with a photographer to our right and off they walked down a cycle path by the riverbank, the brides long flowing white gown doubling as a very effective dead leaf sweeper…

I finally drained the lemonade (and am still suffering from it’s after effects) and we wandered in the direction of the Mezquita, passing the ubiquitous buskers on the bridge. One was playing an accordion and making such elaborations to the melodies as to render them unrecognisable and a boy/girl duet who were actually so good we gave them some change. It may have been as much as two Euros…

The area round the Mezquita was packed with tourists and we found its inner courtyard full of an after wedding throng. The bride and groom were about to exit and I was shooed away from the gates by a harassed official photographer. The newlyweds stood beaming and we got caught in the thrown rice overflow. I suppose we should be grateful it wasn’t cooked paella. We quickly tired of the masses of tourists and sought refuge in on of the small patios, which housed a couple of leather shops. Strolling on, we had a quick lunch in another patio, which was a tapas restaurant. The huge number of visitors we mingled with really was too much and we jointly decided to return to the apartment.

After our afternoon siesta we got ready for our evening dinner reservation at Choco which has been awarded a Michelin star. A taxi ride away, we turned up early and the waiter asked us to seat ourselves at an outside table to have pre dinner drinks. At 8:30, we were ushered into a gold and bamboo themed comfy seating area where we had more drinks and three appetizers. The maitre’d collected us and took us through to the kitchen for another appetizer which was smoked in front of us. Finally we were shown into the restaurant proper where we were presented with a choice of two tasting menus, one slightly shorter than the other. Naturally we chose the one with more courses.

With due regard to it’s star rating, we were a little underwhelmed with the dishes. The flavours and ingredients, were perhaps a little too subtle for my own taste. The presentation and service were wonderful,  even folding your napkin if you got up from the table. They called us a taxi and we sped home, sometimes cornering on two wheels and once through red lights. We got home, tired, happy and amazingly in one piece…

I’m writing this the next morning and as again we have no definitive plans for today, this evenings blog may have less words and photos…you should be thankful for small mercies…