Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Day 7 – Fri 30 Mar 07
Freezing cold at 0130 hr! The train finally arrived.
We boarded the train and I was expecting the comfortable seats we had on our ride from Barcelona. But lo and behold, the train corridor was so narrow, we could bearly push our luggages through. The ticket warden who could not speak English pointed at a door indicating to me to go in there and then guided Sam to another place. I was shocked as I did not expect that we were going to be apart.
My attempt to open the metal door failed as it was latched from the inside. Fortunately Sam came back to check on me and found me locked out. When he tried to get the attention of the ticket warden, an old lady unlatched the door and turned on the lights. And I was surprised to find 2 bunk beds in the tiny room and 3 ladies fast asleep. Apparently, I have interrupted their sleep!
Very quickly, I pushed my luggage into the tiny space in between the 2 bunk beds, climbed up the ladder onto an empty bed, placed my haversack on a ledge, took off my spring jacket and sweater, tucked myself in bed wearing my jeans and switched off the lights. While in bed, I was wondering "what if I missed my stop, where was I heading, where do I look for Sam"? The Schindler’s List movie was also playing in my mind!
I needed to go to the loo, so after 10 mins or so of contemplating, I decided to turn on the lights, climbed down the ladder and headed for the washroom outside. I quickly returned to the cabin as I was afraid that they would lock me out again. Fortunately we had set our phone alarm while waiting at the train station this morning. So I took out my mobile phone and held it tightly to sleep.
Had about 3-4 hours of interrupted sleep as I could feel the train coming to a halt or sound of luggages banging against the door. At about 0630 hr, the ticket warden came knocking on our door. He called out ‘Cordoba’ and uttered something in Spanish . I opened my tired eyes and acknowledged that I was going there. He mumbled something about arriving in half an hour...so what was I going to do in that half an hour? I just lied in bed and waited …
Few mins later, Sam came knocking on the door and I was delighted to see him! He came to wake me up as we would be arriving at our destination soon. So I turned on the lights, put on my clothes, checked that I have everything, climbed down the ladder and lug my luggages out of the room while my roomies were still fast asleep. We waited along the corridor for the train to stop and finally arrived at Córdoba at 0700 hr.
It was still cold in Córdoba. We went to the washroom at the train station to freshen up. Went to Hertz Counter to pick up our Ford and loaded our luggages into the car boot. We had our breakfast at the train station, and love the freshly squeezed and sweet orange juice.
After breakfast we drove to Mezquita, but not before driving aimlessly in the city trying to get used to the road signs in Spanish and dealing with the narrow streets and corners!
The Mezquita (Spanish for "mosque", from the Arabic "Masjid"), was at one time the second largest mosque in the world
and is now a Roman Catholic cathedral. The mosque underwent numerous changes. The city in which it was built was subject to frequent invasion, and each conquering wave added their own mark to the architecture. It was a marvellous sight.
After the visit, we drove around looking for lavendaria (laudromat) not realising that it was siesta time (most were closed 2-5 pm). We waited for one to open and were so glad to finally get some clean clothes!
We picked the Gaws up from the airport at 6 pm. The weather by then was so warm that we were in our t-shirts, without the layers!
After dinner at Málaga, we drove to Benahavis and checked into Westin La Quinta at around 10 pm.
We boarded the train and I was expecting the comfortable seats we had on our ride from Barcelona. But lo and behold, the train corridor was so narrow, we could bearly push our luggages through. The ticket warden who could not speak English pointed at a door indicating to me to go in there and then guided Sam to another place. I was shocked as I did not expect that we were going to be apart.
My attempt to open the metal door failed as it was latched from the inside. Fortunately Sam came back to check on me and found me locked out. When he tried to get the attention of the ticket warden, an old lady unlatched the door and turned on the lights. And I was surprised to find 2 bunk beds in the tiny room and 3 ladies fast asleep. Apparently, I have interrupted their sleep!
Very quickly, I pushed my luggage into the tiny space in between the 2 bunk beds, climbed up the ladder onto an empty bed, placed my haversack on a ledge, took off my spring jacket and sweater, tucked myself in bed wearing my jeans and switched off the lights. While in bed, I was wondering "what if I missed my stop, where was I heading, where do I look for Sam"? The Schindler’s List movie was also playing in my mind!
I needed to go to the loo, so after 10 mins or so of contemplating, I decided to turn on the lights, climbed down the ladder and headed for the washroom outside. I quickly returned to the cabin as I was afraid that they would lock me out again. Fortunately we had set our phone alarm while waiting at the train station this morning. So I took out my mobile phone and held it tightly to sleep.
Had about 3-4 hours of interrupted sleep as I could feel the train coming to a halt or sound of luggages banging against the door. At about 0630 hr, the ticket warden came knocking on our door. He called out ‘Cordoba’ and uttered something in Spanish . I opened my tired eyes and acknowledged that I was going there. He mumbled something about arriving in half an hour...so what was I going to do in that half an hour? I just lied in bed and waited …
Few mins later, Sam came knocking on the door and I was delighted to see him! He came to wake me up as we would be arriving at our destination soon. So I turned on the lights, put on my clothes, checked that I have everything, climbed down the ladder and lug my luggages out of the room while my roomies were still fast asleep. We waited along the corridor for the train to stop and finally arrived at Córdoba at 0700 hr.
It was still cold in Córdoba. We went to the washroom at the train station to freshen up. Went to Hertz Counter to pick up our Ford and loaded our luggages into the car boot. We had our breakfast at the train station, and love the freshly squeezed and sweet orange juice.
After breakfast we drove to Mezquita, but not before driving aimlessly in the city trying to get used to the road signs in Spanish and dealing with the narrow streets and corners!The Mezquita (Spanish for "mosque", from the Arabic "Masjid"), was at one time the second largest mosque in the world
and is now a Roman Catholic cathedral. The mosque underwent numerous changes. The city in which it was built was subject to frequent invasion, and each conquering wave added their own mark to the architecture. It was a marvellous sight.After the visit, we drove around looking for lavendaria (laudromat) not realising that it was siesta time (most were closed 2-5 pm). We waited for one to open and were so glad to finally get some clean clothes!
We picked the Gaws up from the airport at 6 pm. The weather by then was so warm that we were in our t-shirts, without the layers!
After dinner at Málaga, we drove to Benahavis and checked into Westin La Quinta at around 10 pm.
Penseur 11:22 PM