The Arizona sentinel., 1896-07-11
European Letter.
From our special correspondent
 CoRDovA, SPAIN, May 30, 1896,

Gibraltar shook their heads. Cooks l agent, from whom we fought tickets | so as to avoid being cheated by the
 courteous employees of the railroad,
 strongly advised us to take a courier. | He would be always useful, sometimes indispensable, and he would cost us only three dollars day besides his travelling expenses. But travelling in Spain is costly at best, because one has to go first class. There are not the fairly comfortable second class com. partmeuts of France and Italy, or the clean third class ones of Germany
 where one can have cheerful converse with the knitting peasant women.
 Besides we had had guide i'll Gibral-
 tar and the experience had not filled
 us with enthusiasm. When we were
 dumped with our luggage on the land-
 ing wharf, in the midst of drench-
 ing rain we stumbled from the Charyb
 dis of bcatmen, cab drivers and porters
 into the Scylla of guide. He took
 us 10 the. hotel Royal, where the bill
 for one nights stay made our purses quake, and we decided that we would
 hardly fall among worse thieves in Spain than we had in this little strip of English territory. So We took our | lives in our hands and started. And
 want to say 10 the girls who are pre-
 pairing to como o-er here, don't take q guide. If you have the least iude-
 pendence [and what American girl has
 not) you will find him more of bore
 than q behefit. Not the least trouble did we have, and VIC did not know a word of the language. We learned
 to gesture eloquently and effectively and te say "cuanto?" winch means Chow much does it cost?" And though
 the answer was wholly unintelligihle
 we would hold up our fingers and then our interlocCtor would do the same
 When he held up ten we always shook our heads vigorously ana offered five
 It was much more fun than to talk commonplace English and have it translated. And if the extra expense inst a consideration Gas it was with
 us) the money Can ba much more pro- fitably invested in mantillas and bull
 fights. So for sentimental and econ omical reasons, go alone. When we
 took the little train at Algicie-as We
 were lucky enough to get compart-
 ment to ourselvesand with the instinct
 Of the railway hog we piled our lug
 gage on the seats and looked forhidding
 when anyone glanced in. But after
 the train had started the conductors
 head appeared at the window and he
 smiliugly explained, in perfectly plaln Spanish, that he could have put other
 people in there, but-well-he haG
 not. For which consideration we pre-
 scented him with nine cents, which Inc
 received humbly and gratefully smiled
 all around winked and disappeared
 The railway service in Spain is not
 as perfect as it might be. In the pro vincial cities only the train leaves { day. If you miss 1t you have to wal twenty-four hours for the next. FoI } the further convenience of the public
 this train usually leaves at 6 a. m. ana it is one of the customs of the country to reach 1t an hour before it starts
 So whenever we wanted to make |;
 journey we had to submit to beinE
 called at four o'clock in the morning
 10 dressing by candlelight to drivin;
 an interminable distance througl phostlike rows of houses Cor station are always in an inaccessible part 0 the town); and to waiting on cold din P platforms sometimes after the ap- 5 pointed hour, when the train woult sleepily start and we would try to fin 2 ish our maps in corners Of the com. partment. But even these uncom.
 fortable incidents are overlooked wheI
 we remember that it Is this very ab
 scence of modern cOnvcn;cnces tha makes Spain so novel and interesting When the country learns to adapt it | self to the ways of travellers, much ( e its originality and charm will vanisl C The first thing we did when " S reached Cordova was to start for u, q mosque. Outside t is rather disal f pointing; but the interior is a deligh
 ful surprise, with endless vistas !, every direction. the low arches stripe
 alternately in dull red and whit
 There were thousand pillars, we we ; informed, anI we preferred not to a e tempt to verify the statement. W d roamed around ill the maze, sttidit - the ever-changing combinations
 e ches, and tired to imagine the mo re que when it was first erected, to
 b. the Western Mecca. Today glowil Ii mosaics and rich marbles have be- ,e carefully covered with wLitewas I p;ously designed to hide such relics