Cordoba, Spain

Once we arrived at our hotel in Cordoba Sunday evening, we walked around (and I mean around) looking for dinner.  None of the streets are square or even close – you completely lose your sense of directions.  We happened upon a large rectangular plaza, surrounded by a 4 story building. The ground floor appeared to be all retail or commercial.   There were mostly restaurants or cafes on the end we came in on and we stopped at the closest.  

Around us were men drinking and selling tables full of trinkets to locals and tourist, a juggler and other people begging or selling things from bags.  We were not approached by the latter, only a man asking for cigarettes. 

I ordered a green salad and Barry a chorizo with bread. The waitress came back and told Barry they did not have the bread, so he ordered the tapas version of chorizo with a few French fries.  My salad was huge and with so much chicken.  Barry had a bowl of chorizo big enough to feed 2 – so we had plenty to eat and at a very low price.   We decided to return from the opposite corner, a big mistake and we did not have our map.  We wandered for a long time and then started asking directions – after at least 3 people we got back!  Nice showers and then to bed – did not look in the closet – we slept w/o blankets – they were in the closet.

 Sept 24 Monday

We ate a late breakfast down the street in a little coffee shop.  Then we were off to the Great Mosque of Cordoba;  it is amazing. More than you can take in – art, architecture, and history.  We are cheating and using Wikipedia again today to describe to you what were seeing:  "The site was originally a pagan temple, then a Visigothic Christian church, before the Umayyad Moors converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque on the site.  After the Spanish Reconquista, it became a Roman Catholic Church, with a cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building. The Mezquita is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Islamic architecture...

The building is most notable for its arcaded hypostyle hall, with 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite. These were made from pieces of the Roman temple which had occupied the site previously, as well as other destroyed Roman buildings, such as the Mérida amphitheatre. The double arches were a new introduction to architecture, permitting higher ceilings than would otherwise be possible with relatively low columns. The double arches consist of a lower horseshoe arch and an upper semi-circular arch. The famous alternating red and white voussoirs of the arches were inspired by those in the Dome of the Rock and also resemble those of the Aachen Cathedral, which were built almost at the same time.   

The mihrab, which oriented the mosque toward Mecca, is a masterpiece of architectural art, with geometric and flowing designs of plants. Other prominent features were: an open court (sahn) surrounded by arcades, screens of wood, minarets, colorful mosaics, and windows of colored glass. "

   

These pictures of are of the high altar and the choir that are prominent aspects of the Catholic Cathedral in the center of what was once a mosque.

 

This picture shows the way in which Catholic and Muslim features are mixed even in the area near the high altar.

Along the way Jayne bought a much-needed purse, made of Spanish leather in Cordoba.   (Not quite "Boots of Spanish leather," but Bob Dylan Barry was still humming the tune.)

 We had lunch at a near by café – 10 euros each for three course, bread, drink and dessert.  We were very disappointed;  the only thing that was good was Jayne's soup gazpacho.  Barry started with a salad – it had chopped tuna on it – not sure why they think a green salad needs meat.  Jayne next had ensalada rusa (ok) and Barry had a rice dish with seafood and chicken– paella.  (He said he could imagine that a really good paella might be quite enjoyable.)  We then had pork dishes – Barry a pork chop – thin and full of fat and Jayne had pork wrapped in ham – menu did not say it was fried.  Looked like a corn dog and was terrible!  Our dessert was ice cream in a plastic individual cup.

 We then walked to the Roman bridge.  Again for Wikipedia: "The bridge was built by the Romans in the early 1st century BC, perhaps replacing a previous one in wood. It currently has 16 arcades, one less than original ones, and a total length of 247 meters. The width is around 9 meters.

The Via Augusta, which connected Rome to Cádiz, most likely passed through it…During its history, the bridge was restored and renovated several times (in particular in the 10th century), and now only the 14th and 15th arches (counting from the Puerta del Puente) are original. It was extensively restored in 2006."

  

That's the Mesquita/Cathedral in the background.

Next we walked to the Palace of the Christian Monarchs (Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos).   Jayne decided not to pay the 8-euro and write post cards while Barry toured the site.   Sometime later, Barry called down from the tower wall that it was also the entrance to the botanical garden.  Wish it had given us that information out front!   From Wikipedia:  The Alcázar  … takes its name from the Arabic word القصر (Al-Qasr, meaning "the Palace"). The fortress served as one of their primary residences of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon."

 

Views from the tower on top the Alcazar.

  

We then walked through the Jewish Quarter and into a cultural museum of Andalucía.  It was small and not so impressive – served as much as a gift shop as museum—with something to sell in each room, for example, handmade paper in the room with a miniature of the first machine to make paper. 

We walked back to the hotel and found just down the street from where we are staying, the ruins of a first century Roman temple that is currently being excavated and restore.  The original foundation and columns still exist and are made of white marble. 

After a dip in the pool, we walked around some more and bought bread, cheese, and ham to take back to the room for our dinner and our breakfast on Tuesday morning.

 

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

 

We slept late Tuesday morning.  Barry went out to a nearby coffee shop and got "café con leche" to bring back to the room to enjoy with our bread, ham, and cheese.     Then we walked down to the same plaza near the hotel where we had eaten when we first arrived in Cordoba.  During the day, one part of the plaza is dedicated to the food market.  You know by now that we love walking around such markets.  Barry asked one of the butchers about not seeing any "morcillas"—the blood sausages he sometimes enjoyed in Argentina.  Turned out they are much smaller in Spain and there is a spicy version.   Barry will be looking for one of those when we eat out back in Cadiz.

  

One of the things Jayne noticed in the market (which she had noticed before): if a vendor is in conversation with someone, even it is a friendly conversation with no particular prospect of a sale at the end, the vendor leisurely finishes that conversation before giving any attention to customers.   It seems to reflect a value system that puts more emphasis on friendship than commerce, and, the fact that Spaniards (like the Portuguese) are in no hurry!

 We walked back to our hotel, checked out, and then set out for the train station.  We had thought about taking a taxi, but it was such a cool morning, the walk was less than a half-hour, and it was our last chance to enjoy the sites of the old city of Cordoba so we walked.    Once we bought our tickets we still had some time so we walked to an archeological site near the train station and saw the excavations of some ancient Roman ruins.

We are finishing this on the train.  It has been a pleasant journey through lots of rural scenery.  We've seen cotton being harvested with John Deere combines, cotton waiting to be harvested, acres of olive trees, fields full of solar panels, and, as we get loser to the coast, huge windmills for producing electrical energy.