A few weekends ago, Eliana, Bobby, Stef and I made our return to southern Spain when went on the Erasmus trip to Córdoba y Sevilla. Erasmus is the European Union's study abroad network, making it easy and accessible for university students in the European Union to spend a semester or a year at another European school. However, they open up their activities and trips to any student at our school (Carlos III) so we signed up to go. It definitely turned out to be more of an adventure than we had bargained for!
It all started when we got to the bus at 7:30 am Friday morning, just like the one short email we received about the trip the day before we left told us to do. We waited outside of Atocha (the main train station, near where I live) for the bus that would take us on the 6-hour drive south to Córdoba. After waiting about 45 minutes, a guy finally announced himself as the leader, explaining that we had about 20 minutes until the bus left in case we wanted to go get coffee, or do whatever we needed to do. My friends and I, as well as a girl from one of my classes who had come on her own and actually said she needed someone to hang out with until she 'made friends' (thanks! remember this comment later), put our backpacks under the bus, then went into the cafe directly behind where we were standing, to get out of the cold for a few minutes. When we peered out the window about 7 minutes later, our traveller's nightmare began..the bus was very much not there. Gone.
The ridiculousness began here. The five of us went outside, looked all up and down the street, and realized the bus really had left us. We also realized that a) our stuff was under the bus, b) because the information they sent about the trip was so informal, we had absolutely no way to contact the trip leader (a student at Carlos III) nor anyone on the bus. The ONLY thing we knew was that our group was taking a tour of the mosque at 2:30 p.m. We had one of those moments where we all just looked around at each other in disbelief for a few seconds before realizing we needed to act. Luckily, we were right across the street from Madrid's huge main train station, so we ran inside, dashing from room to room for the right counter, and found an Ave (high-speed) train that was leaving for Córdoba at 9 am. It was 8:54.
We quickly bought the tickets, ran down the escalators, through the fake jungle in the middle of the train station (ok, so we didn't run through it, but I just wanted to note that there IS a fake jungle in there. porque? no tengo idea.), to the platform and onto the train. We acknowledged that there was nothing we could do about the situation until we got there, so we found some seats, settled in to watch "He's Just Not That Into You" in español, and began to have the moment where you realize the situation is funny. Really funny. Also, they aren't kidding about high-speed trains. We were in Córdoba one hour, 45 minutes later--aka before the end of the movie where guy that works at the bar admits that he IS into her, and they are happy. The five of us got off the train, headed to the old city, and did some great walking and exploring. Saw the old Jewish quarter, the Roman bridge, and more.
Around 2, we headed inside the walls of the mosque to make sure we could be there when the group arrived, and I realized that at the sign that said "Groups" they would probably have a contact number from our group. Our 5th lost-group-member spent most of the time talking about what she would do if her bag was gone forever. After a morning of unsuccessfully calling anyone at the school that we could to try and get a number of someone who was on that bus, or knew someone who knew someone who was on that bus, we finally got a number. At this point, however, it was futile, and we soon saw our "leader" with an intense unibrow appear with the group. When we approached him and explained la situación, the verrrryy first thing he said was, "Why didn't you call someone?" We finally found out his name (Pierro) and that he was Colombian, and apparently the bus had had to pull away early because a cop told it to. Not that they had made sure everyone was there, checked any list, etc. The second thing he told us was that he had seen the random (our) bags under the bus when they arrived, taken them out, and left them in the street (!) The third thing he told us was that they had checked into the hostel, and after 'recalculating' on the bus, there wasn't room at the same one. I think you can imagine the looks on our faces at that moment.
Apparently, and luckily for us, there were some diplomats visiting Córdoba that day. Because of that, there were lots of police officers controlling cars on the tiny streets. I guess they saw our bags when Pierro took them out, and told him they would take them to their office. Yes, there is only one local police office in Córdoba. We took our tour of the mosque, and afterward headed to the policia de Córdoba..but the journey did not end there. We were asking cops in the street, who were controlling the streets for the diplomat, to call and make sure it was at their station, to which the dispatcher said they weren't. We headed over there anyway, and at first, they told us our bags were in their lost and found, and the man who runs the lost and found--and therefore was in possession of the ONE (yes really, the only) key that exists for said lost and found--had left to go home since it was Friday afternoon..and would not be returning until Monday morning. I was perplexed. What if lost-and-found man gets sick? Wants to take a nice family vacay? Guess he can't, since he possesses the key. The nice, bored policemen at the station helped us out, and called their one desk they have in the national police's office next to the mosque. He told us we were in luck, our bags were sitting next to that one desk. We trekked back to where we came from, chatted with the policeman for a few minutes about how he found our bags in the street, and how Córdoba is competing to become the "capital Europea de la culura" (capital of European culture) for 2016, then got our backpacks, which were just chilling on the floor.
Once this was all worked out, everything was groovy. We found the hostel affiliated with the one everyone else was staying, where they had found us rooms. It turned out to be a really cool place, and we put down our stuff, went out for some delicious tapas (my favorite was goat cheese and honey) and wine, and left in the morning for Sevilla, which is such a romantic, beautiful city.
Córdoba: mezcla de las tres grandes culturas
Patio at our hostel.
Sevilla!
Patio de los Naranjos at the Catedral en Sevilla.
A little boy wanted to join in this street performer's fun. So adorable. Note the little ponytails in the boy's hair.
Men practicing and weight training prepare for the parade with a giant statute of the Virigin Mary during Holy Week.
Dusk in Sevilla was my favorite...I think it's made for this time of day!
That night in Sevilla we met up with Ali from our program, and Cristina who is studying abroad in Paris, and we all went to a Flamenco bar.
Sunday morning, before heading back to Madrid we went to the Alcazar: palace and beautiful gardens from the Arab rulers of the 700s-1200s
Spinning, lalala
After the madness, it really did turn out to be a great weekend. I am so happy I got to see these two cities, and it was fun to talk to and people-watch on our trip of kids from all over Europe and South America. Sevilla especially has such an amazing feeling, and I would love to go back someday!
Incredible experience! You took it all in stride. Gorgeous photos.
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