Cordoba

What a lovely place to complete our Spanish experience!

Córdoba has definitely lived up to expectations and is so calm and spacious compared to Granada. We spent the first night getting our bearings.

Our Airbnb is a few minutes from the Puente Roma (Roman bridge), the main access into town.

Big doors mean big knockers. The Mezquita, more on that tomorrow when we actually visit.

For dinner we tried the Spanish tortilla, but this one comes with its own thing. It is huge! And quite nice. 

We were instructed to take ours outside and sit on the wall of the Mezquita, so we did.

Night lights illuminating the Torre Campanario, the puente Roma and the Mezquita.

Several of the sights in Córdoba are open free to visitors from 8.30 till 9.30 a.m., so no sleeping in here. Today we checked out the Mezquita, a morning view from our side of the river.

Currently the Mezquita is a Catholic cathedral, but it is built within the third largest mosque in the world. The Cathdral is right in the centre, surrounded by the hundreds of terracotta and white arches of the mosque. Many of the original Islamic features have been retained, making it an odd mixture of both religions.

Here's the Catholic bit, plonked in the middle.

East meets west.

The detail in the plaster and woodwork is incredible once again.

Then we headed up the bell tower sited on the walls of the Mezquita.

From up here you can see better how the cathedral is placed in the midst of the mosque.

Córdoba from above, yep we still have glorious weather.

Then it was time to explore the city at ground level. Lots of narrow laneways leasing to yet another plaza. This one is Calle Flores, which is not putting on its best show due to the very hot summer they had, and still seem to be having.

Plaza Tendillas, where the old and the newer city meet.

 

We've become very accustomed to outdoor dining, Plaza Jeronimo Paez where we found the archaeological museum and a lovely bar for dinner.

One of the many churches in town, Iglesia y Claustro de San Fransisco.

Plaza Potro where the Posada del Potro houses the informative flamenco museum.

Posado del Potro is an old inn with a very colourful past and a rickety balcony.

In the evening we headed to a small family run Taverna la Fuenseca, next to Plaza Fuenseca in the hope of finding some local music.  On the way we dropped in at Iglesia de San Andres where there was a special service on. The insence was intense and the altar totally surrounded by candles. A surreal sight.

When we arrived at the bar, it was midweek and early in Spanish time, so we were the only customers and thee was no promise of music to come. No matter, Jorse insisted we settle in in the tiny back room where the music happens, and perhaps something would. And it did. Jesus played a few tunes for us on his guitar and Jorse showed us his flamenco moves. We then chatted to Pilar, the older sister, Helen and I using all of our Spanglish expertise. A very memorable evening.

Another early start on Thursday morning for the next freebie visiting the Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos home to the royals when they were in town and where the Spanish Inquisition held its meetings. 

Is this the room where the Inquisition decided the fate of their victims?

Included in the main salon are Roman mosaics and a sarcophagus in remarkable condition, unearthed during roadworks within Córdoba.

The gardens are a lovely 20th century addition.

Does anyone know the name of this plant? It looks more like coral than a flower and is velvety to touch. 

Christopher Columbus also met with Queen Izabel here to discuss his upcoming journeys.

Found this special horse cart blocking the road, something was happening that involved filming and police guards.

After visiting the Banos Alcazar Califa, bath house remains from the glory days of the Calufate, we sopped by the stables at Caballerizas Reales where you can see horse performances on some  evenings.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around La Juderia, the former Jewish section of town and where is one of only a few remaining synagogues in Spain, albeit very tiny. This is the tiny Capilla  de San Bartolome which was formerly a synagogue.

You can do a Patio de Flores tour here, where you get to go inside homes to check out their floral patios. I loved this sculpture celebrating the patios de Flores.

Mike's hat has been added to the cultural scene of Córdoba.

 Although I didn't do the tour, I got the feel for it in a few different buildings.

And I found these ladies dressed up as patios!

Sneaking a look inside some other buildings.

The gardens outside the walls.

This is where we're going tonight, hope the show is as good as the previous ones we've seen.

It was great once again. This time we had four performers who followed the now familiar pattern of individual and group guitar, singing and dancing. 

 One last shot of the Mezquita, the golden door glistening in the night lights.

This morning,  before we left town, I popped into the Museo Julio Romero de Torres to check out his portraits of mostly Cordoban women. Very nice work and a lovely setting in the same building as the Belles Arts centre.

Time to drive to Madrid, 400 kms on a main road, so only 4 hours away according to the GPS. 

5,388 kms since we left Barcelona, we dropped 'Penny' off scratch and dint free 😄 in Madrid. Tomorrow Morocco.