Sevilla in January Day 8 Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija and then to Cordoba

At 9.30ish on Friday morning I’m about 8th in the queue for free entry at Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija. Entry is normally 14 euors for two floors. Free entry on Friday morning at 10 o’clock is just for the ground floor, but I’m mainly interested in the Andalucian style patio, azulejos etc anyway. 

In 1901 Manjón Mergelina, Countess of Lebrija, bought and rebuilt the palace, which dated from the 16th century, to house her valuable collection of antiquities. She had a passion for archaeology and filled the palace with artefacts found during her excavations, as well as those bought from other archaeologists, using items in the rebuilding and integrating them into the palacio: Moorish arches, Plateresque decoration, azulejos including some dating back to 1585, a coffered ceiling from a 16th-century palace and a Renaissance frieze, while the façade and layout reflect typical Andalusian style.

There are also some Roman mosaics, taken from the historical site of Italica, that pave almost the entire ground floor as well as a mosaic depicting the god Pan that was discovered on land owned by the countess and is in the palace’s central courtyard. The mosaic’s central medallion represents Pan, who is serenading Galatea on his flute, while the other medallions show the love stories of Zeus and the corners contain representations of the four seasons.

It's nice, and worth the wait. I’m there about 30 minutes, bearing in mind I have to get back to vacate the apartment. Andrea is a little better and our inhospitable host refuses a later check-out because of the fever/antibiotics so we make our way very slowly to Estacion Santa Justa. Inside it’s packed and stuffy so we sit at some tables of a well-known multinational outside. It’s neither hot nor cold so we eat our bread and jamon while waiting for the train. I also buy coffee there, mainly because I used their table and chairs free for an hour, but the coffee doesn’t taste of much, or am I biased?

Our Avlo train appears on the platform about 30 minutes before departure time. Nobody takes any notice of our slightly-larger-than-allowed-sized luggage. There are lots of available seats, at least to Cordoba which is just a 45-minute journey.

At Cordoba we take a taxi to our apartment at Atrium Apartments, just over 8 euros, a good investment considering it would have taken us half an hour to walk. The apartment is clean, pleasant and functional, and especially important, warm. There’s also a washing machine so I take advantage of that immediately. There’s a Carrefour express a one-minute walk away so I stock up on heavy things and then walk to the local Aldi which is about ten minutes, because it’s cheaper and there’s more variety.

By that time Andrea has had a rest and is ready to go out too. It’s a very pleasant afternoon, mild – about 20°C, and sunny, so we stroll around the Mezquita and then down towards the river and the bridge. 

There are lots of people walking back and forth over the bridge and at the far end we can see there are some stalls so we join them. There’s a Mercado Andalusi. A ‘medieval’ market, so stalls selling, incense, candles, soap, teas and spices, jewelllery, leather goods and other bits and pieces. There’s also a lot of food, grilled, chips, cakes and bread in industrial sizes. It’s nice for a look and a stroll and I’m starting to feel hungry. It’s getting on for supper time so we wander back to our base.