January in Photos

Well, the demenshea.com site migration did not go off as smoothly as we’d thought. My first January in Photos post, to showcase some pix from January, disappeared as the lords of ether futzed with our site and domain configuration. Meh. Whatever. I have no backup of the post, so I guess I’ll do a little retread for ya.

January was really really busy. We did a good bit of apartment hunting. Drove to Madrid to sign a lease on an apartment. Then started to furnish the place and install appliances. We took a quick road trip to Granada in between, then turned in our rental vehicle and picked up the 2023 Opel Corsa we purchased. Whew! Even so, we made time to wander and be wowed. Spain does that to newbs.

Here’s some photos taken while we were looking for a place to rent, in the neighborhood we’re now in.

Starting with the churches… this one is about four blocks from our apartment, Santa Marina church. It’s a Fernandine church, a term named for the Spanish King Ferdinand III who ruled from 1217 to 1252. As part of remaking Córdoba a christian city following the reconquista and defeat of the Muslims in southern Spain, Ferdinand ordered the building of 14 churches. Ten still exist today. The Santa Marina church got underway in the mid-1200s.

Just a block from home is Palacio Viana, a large home first built in the 1400s by nobility and expanded into the 1800s.

Just around the corner from our place is a former dwelling remarkable for its bright blue door. (Spaniards in this neighborhood tend to be conservative in the outer appearances of thier homes.) This was the home of an accomplished Cordobese artist, Salvador Morera, whose house this is part of is known as Casa Azul.

We live in the San Andrés part of the Casco Histórico neighborhood. Naturally, we have the Parroquia de San Andrés Apóstol church nearby, another Ferdadine church.

And the Convento de Santa Isabel de los Angeles not far.

The photos in this post are in the order taken. So while we were marvelling at everything in Casco Histórico in the beginning of January, we didn’t yet have an apartment. So we ventured out once more near the AirBnb to get some photos of weather vanes in the Brillante neighborhood.

Then… back to the new hood. No idea what these apertures are called, but they’re pretty cool.

Our constant companion, out walking, or pausing for a cold beverage: Ella.

Cool lookin’ bar.

It should be no surprise that on Calle Alfaros you’ll find… the Hotel Alfaros.

As well as Casa Cuba. Good eats and drinks here.

Hey! It’s los dos numero uno having a cocktail at Cafe Cuba!

Selfie + shadow… shelfie?

In mid-January we made a 90-minute trek by car to Granada, another Andulacían city, southeast of Cordoba. We went for an IRL meeting with a Facebook friend who we met in the summer of 2024 online while both of us were in a bit of a panic over whether we would ever get our Spanish visas.

Granada is not far from the base of the Spanish Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Municipal street lamp in Granada. The Spanish continue to light city byways with lamps that are straight from the art noveau era.

“Death to AirBnb”. Have to say, they’ve got a point here.

Our trip to Madrid, a four-hour hustle north then back again the following day, didn’t accrue much in the way of photos. But we did snap our favorite 2-D road companions: Tio Pepe and the Osborne Bull. I can’t speak for Tio Pepe, which is a very large Sherry maker in Andalucía. But the Osborne bull, considered a national symbol of Spain, appears alongside Spanish highways throughout the country. They debuted in aid of Brandy sales in 1956 and today appear in 92 locations. More here.