Tastings and pigeon poo

Yesterday was a day for tastings. Olive. Wine. Cordoba. After breakfast, I intentionally lost myself in the narrow, winding, and seemingly endless streets of the city. I visited the Museo Bella Artes and Museo Julio Romero de Torres, which were both interesting in very different ways. Afterwards, I continued wandering and happened into a little shop that was filled with olive oil and wine. The proprieter approached me and offered an olive oil lesson and tasting. ¡Si, por favor! But of course!

It turns out you taste olive oil in the same way you taste wine. First, you smell it. Then you swirl it around in your mouth. Finally you swallow it. It´s a wonderful experience when you´re guided by someone as knowledgeable as Pepe. I chose my favorite, which turns out to be one of the top rated oils in all of Spain and now have 20 pounds of it to tote around for 2 weeks. It´s smooth, with a fairly strong taste of green olive, followed by a little kick at the end. Then, Pepe offered me a copa de Fina, which is a very dry white wine made from grapes grown in Cordoba. Not my favorite, but good to try.

For dinner, we ended up at the Museo de la Tapas y el Vino, so of course we tasted tapas and wine. After asking the waiter ¨Que me recomienda?¨ we sat back and waited for him to choose our food. Drinking our bottle of Cermeño (tinto de Toro), which was estupendo, we wrote the following review of our dishes:
Rabo de Toro (stewed oxtail) - I threw vegetarianism to the birds and enjoyed this fabulous local dish. Didn´t know oxtail was so boney though. It was a mess to eat!
Croquetas caseras de espinicas (Spinach croquettes) - Ooey, gooey, creamed spinach with cheese wrapped in a breaded crust. Goodness from start to finish. We ordered more!
Aceitunas (olives) - Sandra found the pits problematic. I thought they were wonderful and was proud of my pit mastery. I know my monkeys are happy for me.
Asadillo de Pimientos - slimy roasted red peppers with scant tuna. Not great.
Albondigas de Bacalao en sala de tomate - fish (cod) balls in tomato sauce with hard peas. Enough said.
Pulpa a la Gallega - bland Galician octopus, which was predictably chewy

Finishing all of this, we were still hungry, so we ordered more Spinach croquettes and added Croquetas de Jamon. The jamon tasted like ooey, gooey, chipped beef in cheese. Yummy goodness. Then, we ordered postres. The waiter brought us a tower of chocolate cake and whipped cream. It was gone in a flash of dueling forks.

On the way home from dinner, after midnight, a pigeon shat upon me. I suppose it wouldn´t be an international trip without some crazy animal mistaking me for their private baño. When Sandra finished laughing, which took way too long, she handed me a tissue...and took a photo.