Saturday, April 3rd Mom and I took a morning train to Cordoba. When we arrived we took Rick Steve's advice and took a bus to San Fernando stop. Well we didn't pick up a proper map and we quickly learned that hand drawn maps in Rick Steve's books aren't the easiest to navigate. Needless to say we got turned around when we got off the bus stop and after dragging our suitcases are Cordoba for 30 minutes, we found a taxi stand and had a taxi take us to our hotel. Cordoba's streets are tiny, windy, and very hard to navigate! It was the best decision ever to take a taxi. We would have never found our hotel!
Our Hotel, Hotel Albucasis, that we finally found!
After catching our breath from our ordeal, we found lunch and then walked over to the famous Mezquita! The brochure when you walk in actually says "The Cathedral of Cordoba" however, it is actually a massive former Mosque. The original Mosque dates back to 786 and then in 1523 the Christian king decided to build a cathedral in the center of the Mezquita with much opposition from the town. After the cathedral was built the king looked at it and said they'd destroyed something unique to build something ordinary! What a shame!
When walking into the Mezquita I first only noticed the mosque part but as you begin to walk around and really look at it, you can see a mix of the Muslim & Christian religions. It is obvious that the Christians took over and tried to cover up anything Muslim, there are alters all along the side and then of course the elephant in the room, the massive cathedral that comes out of nowhere! When I walked into the middle of the Mezquita and witnessed the cathedral I thought I had just entered a completely new place! It is truly remarkable, I cannot even describe it. But now I know why it is one of the 1,000 places to see before you die.
Bell Tower of the Mezquita
Entrance to the Mezquita
The 850 red and blue columns topped with double arches from the original mosque.
Door of Saint Michael
Altar of the Cathedral
Can you see the mix of the mosque and the cathedral?
Mihrab is like the a mosque's high altar. During prayer, the leader stood inside to amplify his voice so all could hear.
After seeing the biggest highlight in Cordoba, Mom and I just explored by walking over the Puerte del Puente which is partially under construction, up through the Jewish Quarter around to San Basillo. San Basillo is suppose to have award winning patios that you can peer into as you walk through the neighborhood. Patios are a common feature around Andalucia and function as a quiet living room, an oasis from heat. Unfortunately, the street that is suppose to have some of the best patios was deserted as Mom and I walked through. I think we found one gate in total that was open to peer into. Maybe because it was Semana Santa and all the locals leave, we weren't sure of the reason but the place was like a ghost town. Just very strange.
Puerte del Puente (Door of the Bridge)
Deserted street in San Basillo
The one patio we saw
Window flowers are also a big thing in Cordoba
Dinner was next on the things to do, we decided to just do some tapas hopping for dinner. Unfortunately with all our tapas we had the WORST white wine! The tapas were delicious though, this one place we went to was called "101 Tapas" so we just picked about 5 from the menu and waited to see what came out. That is how much of our eating was, we just picked something that sounded good and saw what came out. It is actually kinda fun!
We finished up our day and in the morning got breakfast and walked around until we had to head to the train station to go on to Sevilla. Rick Steves that you could do Cordoba in 3 hours as a quick stop over, which Mom and I completely agree with. But the stop here was still well worth it and the Mezquita is just necessary to experience. Now we were onto Sevilla, the capital of southern Spain!
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