Small group tour with a curated private / bespoke itinerary of Spain – organized by Wine Tourism Spain – Spain Small Group Tours

A city in the region of Andalusia. It is 245 miles southwest from Madrid and 87 miles northeast of Seville. There are excellent fast train connections from Madrid (1hr 40mins) and Seville (40mins). 

It was an important Roman city and a major Islamic center in the Middle Ages. Cordoba was once the largest city in the world, with a population of over 500,000 people during the Islamic Golden Age.

It’s best known for its Great Mosque of Moorish architecture, Mesquita de Córdoba, dating from 784 A.D., one of the greatest works of islamic architecture, and since 1236 it has been turned into a Catholic church, with beautiful Byzantine mosaics.

Cordoba was our next staging post for 3 days, including a day trip to Granada.

We caught the morning fast train from Madrid to Cordoba. This was our first experience riding the Spanish fast trains, and enjoyed the ride. We had booked the IRYO fast train, with “Singular Only You” class seats. The train was clean, the assigned seats were comfy, and it allowed us to board the train first which meant we had ample room to store our bags.

• The baggage guidelines, or restrictions, caused a lot of angst prior to our arrival in Madrid. Our trip duration was for 15 days, and so the question of how much to pack was top of mind with the ladies in the group.
• We had trains to catch from Madrid to Cordoba, Cordoba to Granada, Cordoba to Seville, and from Logrono to Barcelona.
• All fast trains, IRYO, RENFE, and AVE, have baggage size guidelines, and some also have weight restrictions. The latter makes no sense to me.
• I was little anxious the morning of our bus ride to Madrid Atocha train station to catch our IRYO train to Cordoba.
• It was all-to-do-about-nothing! No one checked our bags during boarding in Madrid.

Everyone was in good spirits disembarking in Cordoba. It took a little while to find our tour guide. She was supposed to meet us in the main terminal at the top of the escalators. She was nowhere to be found. We ventured out of the train station, and finally found her. As to where she was, who knows! It was a surprise, a shock to see a 48 seater bus waiting for 6 people, each with 2 pieces of luggage. I still cannot comprehend why a 48 seater bus and not a 16 seater van!

A bigger surprise awaited us! During our bus ride to the hotel, our guide intimated that because the hotel was in the Old town, buses could not go there, and hence would drop us about 300 meters away from the hotel.

Word to the wise … Whilst the narrow, cobblestone winding streets of the historic old town are cool and quaint to walk on, beware if the travel operator has you and your group dropped-off or picked-up in a big bus (40+ seater).

• Note that buses cannot come anywhere near the hotel.
• It is a long walk, almost 300 meters, from where one gets dropped off to the hotel.
• It’s no fun walking with bags in tow, even with rollers, on the cobblestone streets.
• Even though there were just 6 of us, and 12 pieces of luggage (6 check-in bags and 6 carry-on bags), they brought a 40+ seater bus to pick us up at the train station in Cordoba.
• Make sure to remind your travel operator to provide a minivan instead, even it it necessitates your group having to travel to the hotel in separate vehicles.

Cordoba’s historic old town is a World Heritage site, full of little streets, courtyards full of flowers, inviting squares and lively taverns. The city reflects its Roman past and the coexistence of Christian, Islamic and Jewish cultures throughout its history. 

Our hotel, Las Casas de la Judería de Córdoba, located in the Jewish Quarter of the historic old town, was a stone throw away from the medieval Córdoba Synagogue, Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, the Royal Mews, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

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