ONE OF THOSE DAYS

My two young French classmates told me about this website called blablacar.com.  It's a ride sharing site covering 10 countries--I think they're all European countries, but I'm not certain of that.  I wanted to get from Cadiz to Cordoba, Spain today, so, being the adventurous traveler that I am, I thought I'd check it out.  There wasn't anyone offering a ride to Cordoba, but there was a young woman going to Seville, which was 2/3 of the way there, and the price was only 8 euro, about half the price of the train. Saving 8 euro wasn't a huge motivation, but I would have had to do a train change in Seville, and not having to schlep my luggage onto two trains plus saving 8 euro was appealing.  So I went for it.

What a trip.  It was like some movie from the 60's.  Three guys, three gals, and two dogs in a VW van with curtains tooling through the rolling plains of Spain.

The dogs were very well behaved, better than the two guys in front who both lit up cigarettes without even asking if anyone minded.  You wouldn't think an ex-smoker would be bothered so much, but cigarette smoke now makes me nauseous, especially in a car.  So I asked them if they would refrain, and they kindly did.

I assumed I would be dropped off at the train station in Seville, but you know what happens when you assume anything.  My driver wasn't really very familiar with Seville.  She knew where the bus station was, but not the train station.  Another passenger who seemed to be more knowledgeable of the city directed her to a bus station where, she said, I could get a bus to Cordoba.  That was okay with me...I didn't mind taking a bus instead of the train.  But, as it turned out, there was no bus from that station to Cordoba, so I had to take a taxi to the train station.  There went my euro savings....oh well.

The train trip to Cordoba was quick, seeming even more so because of the pleasant conversation I had with a very nice young man from Panama City, in Spanish no less....are you not impressed?  I grabbed another taxi to my apartment, which turned out to be up in the hills above Cordoba with not a restaurant or grocery store in reasonable distance.  Not a good scoping job on my part.  But I'm happy, because it's a nice apartment in a really lovely neighborhood, and there's a bus every half hour that goes to the city.

The receptionist was lovely and gave me maps and a good orientation to the city and the apartment.  I decide that I'm going to walk to the grocery store because I need the exercise, and I want to see how long a walk it is.  A wrong turn and one hour later, I find the grocer's.  Another hour later, I'm carrying 4 bags of groceries to the bus stop, because this load is too heavy to carry uphill for 45 minutes.  I see the number 11 bus coming and gather up my bags to catch it, when, instead of coming to the stop where I'm standing, it turns the corner and disappears from sight.  I run to the corner to see if it's stopped somewhere on the adjacent street, only I'm too late.  It had quickly dropped one passenger around the corner and taken off again.  This didn't even look like a bus stop, whereas the place I was had a waiting area with bench that was sheltered and lighted.....a proper bus stop it was.  By now, I'm tired and chilled and hungry...it's dark, and the prospect of standing at this second class bus stop for a half hour until the number 11 did another circuit had absolutely no appeal.  

One of the things I already like about Cordoba is that there are plentiful taxis.  I caught one in minutes, and was delivered to my apartment where I am happily alone again.  

AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY TRAVELS, I HAVE A CLOTHES DRYER RIGHT IN MY APARTMENT!!  LUXURY.