LA MEZQUITA DAZZLES, A DAY EARLY

I already knew I was not going to get on the flight out of Madrid on the 18^th, so I changed my flight to the 17^th, and planned to drive back to Madrid with Ron, as his flight was leaving at 6AM on the 17^th. Nick was flying from Malaga, on the coast. We cleaned up the place, took a few last pictures, and were off.

Trust the coin-toss; fate was kind

Madrid was a good 500-600 km from Orgiva, so we were looking at a six-hour drive, at least. Ron and I toyed with the idea of going to Cordoba to see the Mezquita, a mosque built in 785 by Abd-ar-Rahman I (and a World Heritage Site) that had been partially refashioned into a cathedral. We hemmed and hawed about it, finally deciding with a flip of a coin at a gas station—we were going to chance it, even though it would take us more than 200km out of our way. We figured it out scientifically—if we didn’t reach point X by time Y, we’d turn around—long story short, we made it, and it was one of the highlights of my trip.

One difficulty—there were no directional signs to it in Cordoba, so we wandered for a while until we stopped at a gas station. Later, we figured out they were calling it “The Cathedral of Cordoba”, effectively erasing the most interesting thing about it—the Moorish architecture was absolutely stunning, and the church that was plunked down in the middle of the city-block-sized mosque was ho-hum, right down to the gilded receptacle for St. Vincent’s bits (that’s what makes a cathedral a cathedral—a saint’s sweetbreads or some other body part). The gory Christian sculptures added to the charm.

After soaking up the beauty of the place, we hit the road, with me at the wheel. I lead-footed it to Madrid, because I wanted to get there before dark so we could 1. Find the airport, 2. Find the car rental drop-off, 3. Find a hotel with a shuttle. Somehow, we managed to do all three, in spite of being heat-blasted and dozy. 
Ron discovered a Best Western-approved hotel (Hotel Villa de Barajas) in the nearby town. Decent rates (69 euros a night) and a free shuttle to the airport—for me, alas, not for him as he had to leave at 3AM. Across the street: a popular spot for tapas on the corner, and an excellent Chinese restaurant (I had severe vegetable need by that point--the noodle soup was served with a spoon, and the owner cut the noodles in the bowl into bite-sized pieces with two knives!). I got up with Ron to help wrestle his suitcase closed (he had been in Europe for six weeks at that point, and the elephantine size of his luggage reflected it), then hit the sack again after he left. 
The next morning, I went to the airport—it didn’t look good: I was #4 on the list, and there were two seats. Once again, my luck held; the first stand-by was seated, but the next two folks on the list were traveling as a team, and they decided to head for Barcelona to fly out of there together. I took the seat, next to a very nice professor of bioscience from Madrid (scientists seem to travel a lot), and was homeward bound once again.

Check out the video: https://vimeo.com/70760985