Sevilla

We are in Sevilla today. We tried to find a hotel by e-mailing various places listed in the lonely planet, which has worked so far on this trip, but it seemed everywhere was full. Finally our hotellier at the Hotel Gonzalez in Cordoba just called the Hotel Simone. It had gotten mixed reviews on tripadvisor.com, so we were reluctant to book there, despite her recommendation, but it seems we got one of the good rooms. Here´s a picture:The window has a balcony and the rooms are around a lovely enclosed courtyard. And I have my own separate closet room! Anyway, it was a relief to arrive with a reservation, and then even nicer to have it be a nice place, after all the stress of unsuccessfully trying to find a place over the last 2 days. I better get started on my hotel in Bilbao tomorrow!

We had dinner last night in a lovely restaurant the ¨Meson de Luna, ¨ and here is a picture of my mom and I at the bar:
We were less than completely happy with our celebration dinner thursday night, despite the restaurant being pricey and listed as one of the top three in Cordoba in both the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, and being recommended by our hotellier. So we decided to try again last night and hit the jackpot. Despite speaking no English, the bartender (not in this photo) gave us several tastes of local cured hams and other ham-related products (delicious!) and explained where they were from and why they were the best, plus we also got some very tasty olives, all for the Euros 3.60 we paid for three glasses of wine. We headed into the restaruant for dinner, which was also very satisfying. We started with mixed veggies (marinated and cooked) some truly delicious grilled mushrooms, russian salad (a variety of potato salad that incorporates fish- not my favorite due to the mayonaise) and gazpacho blanco. Then we had ¨rabo del torro¨tail of the bull, a local cordobese specialty, ¨Supresa Ibierco¨which was a delicious iberian surprise (we´re pretty sure it was beef) and beef tips. We ended the meal with ¨Leche Frita¨which I had been wanting to try since our arrival in Cordoba when I saw it described on a menu as ´fried pudin.´ It was puddingesque and seems to have been fried significantly prior to its arrival at our table, as it was cold, but it was tasty. I have to give the spanish props for the tremendous variety of pudding avalable here - I´ve seen at least 6 or 7 distinct types, often with several pudding options at a restaruant. Another gastronomical highlight of Cordoba was the fried eggplant with special honey sauce we had on our first night. But overall, for dinner in Cordoba, I would recommend the Meson de Luna wholeheartedly.

This is a picture of a clan of stray cats my mom and I found earlier in the day yesterday. (There are 6 cats in this picture, see if you can find them all!) A couple of them were actually pretty friendly, and two were tortise shells that looked kind of like Marmalade (But skinnier) so I was pleased to make their aquantance.
Tonight we will try to see some Flamenco in Sevilla. I don´t think we need to be worried about being kept awake with St. Patricks day revelry.