Into the Fire

After a brief night's rest back in good old Barcelona, I set off on the second leg of my post-work travel to the south of Spain.  It was a full day of traveling, since I had to stop in Cordoba for about four hours before I could connect to Granada.  Luckily, I got upgraded again on my long ride down to Cordoba, and the countryside was beautiful.  When I saw all of the Hockney paintings of LA lit up with neon farm fields at the Guggenheim, I shrugged them off as thought-provoking modern art.  But they're real.  The countryside of Spain was full of geometric patches of color, from square miles of bright purple to deep yellows to blues, greens, and oranges.  Most of it, admittedly, is a sort of dry yellow-tan speckled with green.  That just made the pops of color all the more beautiful.
There were also lockers at the Cordoba train station, so I stashed my bag and set out to explore the city during my down time.  Unfortunately, it was also about 100 degrees outside, I had arrived during the siesta, and there wasn't anything of particular interest close to the train station.  I settles in at a nearby restaurant and (somehow I haven't done this before) ordered the menu del dia.  Well, I guess I got sort of fixed meals when I was out with groups, but it felt sort of exciting.  I was sort of strongarmed into the mixed salad and the grilled chipirones, which the owner assured me were top notch fare.  While the food was merely okay (and the chipirones were literally full baby squids complete with innards, eyes, and all the rest),

the AC was welcome and it allowed me to pass the time.  Note: the little prepackaged ice cream they gave me for dessert was pretty terrible.  I think that all that Barcelona gelato has turned me into even more of a snob.  Oops.
Finally, it was time to set of for Granada.  I arrived late at night, amid the warm, breezy evening.  The people walking around on the streets were dressed in such Greenwich-esque preppy style that I felt as if I was home [we're talking bright yellow pants, belted, with a button down and a sweater draped over the shoulders.  Yep.  On all the men.]  While I failed to follow the directions given to me by the hotel, I finally made it on foot (couldn't find the bus) thanks to the street signs engraved into the sidewalk at each intersection.  I signed in, got my swipey card - very high tech here - and hunkered down for the night.  This hostel has apparently won all sorts of HostelWorld awards, including best in Spain, but we'll see how great it ends up being.
Anyway, I'm off for another day of adventures!  I can't believe that it's almost over.

Spotted: diagonal moving walkways.  These have always sort of surprised me in Spain; I remember encountering one upon arriving at the airport and being completely baffled.  They take a moving walkway and just... raise one end.  But somehow this is very, very disconcerting.  Just play it cool.

Self Reflection Spotted: I think that my reading list has grown even more eclectic during the past month.  My reading list has included: Atlas Shrugged, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, My Life (Bill Clinton's Autobiography), The Man In the Iron Mask (completely different from the movie), End the Fed (by Ron Paul) and Jay-Z's autobiography.