P.X. RULES!!!

PX is Pedro Ximinez, one of the finest (and powerful) wines you can have.  They serve it in tiny cups.  The glasses are to regular wine glasses as espresso cups are to regular coffee cups.  Sweet like a good port, but not sticky sweet.  Two servings could knock you on your ass, I'm figuring, but one gives you a gentle functional buzz.

But more on that a little later.

Today was Cordoba and the Mosque there.  We were in a tour group of 25, led by a multi-lingual guide.  We were from all over the world:  US, Belgium, Paris, Brazil, Holland, Italy, and a couple dressed in traditional Muslim garb, though I don't know what country they were from.  The tour guide gave each speech 3 times, once in Spanish, once in English, once in French and that seemed to cover everyone.

It was historic and interesting, though I can't say I got a lot out of the tour.  Our guide's accent was just a tad too strong for me to follow along.  So I started taking photos.  Of this and that and particularly of a huge tree that had to be just hundreds of years old.  And that's when I took too long.......and lost the tour.  Oh me oh my.  I thought Gene & I would be able to catch up, but they took a turn and then the streets just turned this way and that and there were sooo many other tour groups and they all start looking alike and....... oh well.

So I figured: 1) no law says you HAVE TO stay with the tour, 2) we didn't miss the bus back to Sevilla, just the tour, 3) I'm smart enough to read my guide book and learn about the Mosque on my own, 4) hell, I'm smart enough to tour the damn Mosque on my own.

And so we did.  My only consequence was having to pay an additional entry fee to the Mosque since I wasn't part of a tour group.  Oh well again.  The upside of losing the tour was the opptorunity to meet a splendid and funny British couple with whom we shared stories about our travels and overwhelming opulence some of the displays in the Mosque -- something we could not have done with the lock-step of following a guide.

From there we wandered through the marketplace and stumbled into a wonderful restaurant called Bodegas Mezquita and had what we've decided is the best Spanish meal of the entire trip.  Start with Andelusian Gaspacho which easily matches the recipe I have and Cordoba-style cod over what looked like a fabulous ratatouille.  We chatted with the waiter and praised the food and he brought us some eggplant fried in a honey sauce.  Then he brought out the Pedro Ximinez wine, which is the basis for the honey sauce.  And then we went next door and bought a bottle of the stuff.  Oh yum yum.

I'm getting "server rejected" messages to all my uploaded photos.  I'll try tomorrow.

Gene has discovered a bike conference here called "Velocity 2011".  He is chomping at the bit.  He has rented a bike and will try to attend in the morning.  I will shop.  After 2 weeks of constant "together" touring, we will both be very happy.  It is a healthy thing to do.