Córdoba, anyone?

My ex is coming to visit.

My ex-business partner, that is. My first move to Chicago was a company move, to join a long term Chicago employee and a woman the company had just hired in Minneapolis in an unlikely quest to return the Chicago branch to glory. Before too long the long term employee left, and Leslie and I decided to try to accomplish the seemingly impossible alone.

In the end, we beat the former glory and started me up the company ladder, but it cost us. I often introduce Leslie to new friends as the colleague to whom I was "married" for 2 years. We worked 14+ hour days together, then waved to each other from our respective cars as we did the daily commute back to the city. We double dated. We spent long nights in blues clubs. We cranked the tunes after office hours and toasted Fridays with pizza and cold beer from the office fridge while we did the worst part of growing a staffing company, the payroll.

Leslie's chosen Madrid, Salamanca and Córdoba (by Ave fast train) for our 8 day itinerary. Although I remember loving Córdoba, I haven't visited since my first stay in Spain in 2001.

If anybody has a favorite hotel or restaurant to recommend, I am all ears.

I have discovered that it's a good time to visit Córdoba. The city is hosting tours, exhibitions, concerts and (best of all) special Sephardic menus in restaurants as part of a Europe-wide celebration of Jewish (Sephardic) culture. I read that at Red Juderías de España, which has nifty virtual tours of Spain's historic Jewish barrios. Here is the panoramic view of the judería of Córdoba, the most stunning I've visited so far.

Anyway, I start the planning now. All ears for recommendations....