Priego de Cordoba, Spain with Untours

Untours has as its motto "Unpack Once!"

That's exactly what we did in the apartment we had in the historic barrio in Priego de Cordoba.

We were on Calle Real (Real Street) which was more of a pathway than a street that a car could traverse.

To get there from where we parked the car we had to walk up Calle Ana and

take a right turn at this square where the church was onto Calle Real.

The view out our third floor apartment looks out on the tile roofs of houses across the Calle Real and the church steeple where the bells rang to bring people to Mass.

See how narrow these "streets" are?

Our neighborhood had a park and a castle.  More on the castle another time.

Our car went into a basement garage that required me to get out to help Dan navigate the turns and avoid hitting the pillars. Through those bars below were the original walls of the city.

The car we were given was upgraded which really didn't work in our favor with all the tight spots.  It was a diesel manual transmission with 6 forward gears.  I never drove it thank goodness.  It would stall if you went too slow in the wrong gear.  The GPS spoke with an English accent but couldn't pronounce the Spanish town names correctly.  The directions were wrong too many times, too.

A short walk from our apartment was the Adarve or battlements of the original town.

A panorama shot over the battlement.

Pablo was our Untour guide.  He treated us to a great lunch on our first full day, went over lots of suggestions on what to do with our two weeks, and later gave us a cooking lesson.  More on that in another post.

We can't say enough good things about Untours.  This was our third trip with this company and we have another one booked for next year.  We like being able to keep our own schedule and visit the things that interest us. Their fee covers the apartment, transportation, Untours support before and during the trip and a stash of groceries for when you first arrive. 

 

"Looking Forward to" Revisited

 On September 15th I posted photos of food we had in Barcelona in 2019 and how I was looking forward to our Spain trip and the food.

In Priego de Cordoba we ate our big meals in early afternoon when siesta time started for all businesses except restaurants. 

Breakfast was in the apartment except for those times we went out for hot cocoa and churros - fried dough pastries. We especially liked Spanish omelets, one of which was in our refrigerator when we arrived along with OJ, milk, cheese, bread, ham slices, nectarines, lettuce and tomatoes. Untours did a good job stocking up with necessities so we didn't have to go shopping our first day there.

Evening meals we had at the apartment and went with light fare: olives, bread and olive oil, cheese, ham slices, or small salads. Restaurant dining in the evenings didn't start until 9 pm.  Too late for us.

Well, below is an assortment of photos of the food we had.  Some dishes were outstanding while other dishes were just ok.  

Of course blogger mixes these all up not paying to date at all!

Dan thought he was ordering salad with Russian dressing but it was potato salad.

Grilled chicken at another restaurant for me.

Carrot cake that was suberb.

Here is breakfast at apartment: slice of Spanish omelet, melon and toast.

Grilled tuna.  My first choice was salmon but they were out.  This was very good until I got to the thickest part and it was a little under done for me.

Calamari.  Did you think they were onion rings?

Dan's mixed salad which comes with tuna.  We had Caesar salads (no photos) that also had tuna on them.

This was a small local restaurant near the caves we visited. The menu was written on a chalkboard and you had a choice of a first course and second course.

My first choice was this garlic soup.  Very good. I had the calamari shown above as second course.  

Dan had the salad as first course and this "ham" burger as second course.  And it was ham not a beef burger as he expected.

A so so choice of fried chicken.

These prawns were too breaded.

One of the very best first courses was this plate of grilled vegetables: asparagus, peppers, eggplant and onions.

Another mixed salad we shared.

This was like a paella but more saucey.

The above and below was at a restaurant where the server just didn't want to understand what we were asking.  There were to be two courses but he only brought one each.  Mine below was tuna and tomatoes.

Below: The flamenquín is a traditional dish from Cordoba made with slices of jamón serrano wrapped in pieces of pork loin, coated breadcrumb batter, and deep-fried. It is often garnished with French fries and mayonnaise.

Jamon is ham!

A chicken breast grilled below.

Here is the hot cocoa and churro.  The cocoa was very thick so you dip the churro in it.

Our breakfast table.

Another delicious dessert.  Notice the coffee served in a glass.  That's typical there.

This is breaded eggplant served with a dark honey sauce.  Yum. It was my first course one day and I ate it all.  Well, Dan had some too.  We each had carbonara for our second course but I forgot to take a picture.

Another attempt at a hamburger but this time he got chicken.

A pudding dessert.

Potato chips, Lays brand, were often served when we sat down.  Sometimes we'd get olives.

Tinto de berano was a favorite cool drink for a warm day.  It's red wine and lemon seltzer with lots of ice. 

Not sure what Dan ordered but he got chicken on a baguette.

More photos to come.  I have so many that I'm trying to sort by subject.  Food photos were easiest to sort though I do have some from our cooking class that will be the subject of another post.

Home Again.

 Just returned home from Spain today!

We left September 5th from Boston Logan Airport and flew to Lisbon, Portugal arriving on the 6th.  From there we changed to a flight to Malaga, Spain.  We picked up a rental car and drove north to Priego de Cordoba where we had an apartment until Wednesday September 20th.  Flight home was the reverse except once we arrived in Boston we spent the night at a local hotel before catching the bus to Lebanon, NH where our daughter picked us up.

Jet lag outgoing was a bit rough to adjust to.  Coming back a bit easier though I'm writing this with heavy eyelids.  Need a cup of tea and a nap.  The time difference was 6 hours.

Many pictures to share of our wonderful wanderings through Andalucia and specifically the historic small towns starting with Priego de Cordoba.

 

Welcome Autumn!

 

I repurposed this dried out Christmas wreath as an Autumn wreath for the house.

It still has a balsam fragrance to it even though it's two years old.

Leaves started changing colors in late August which is still a surprise for us because summer in Maryland where we used to live extended into October most of the time.