Spanish Holiday - Cordoba

Myself and a friend, JC, spent four hot days in Spain exploring Cordoba and Granada cities and surrounding countryside.

Thurs 02 to Sat 04 May 19

We flew from Exeter into Malaga, collected our hire car, and drove north to Cordoba.  It was hot hot hot.   We checked into our accommodation and headed off to explore the city.  We were staying on the south of the city so had to walk over the beautiful ancient Roman bridge each day.

The buildings/architecture here are awesome!  

Look at this door on the Mesquita (more on this later).

We took the advice of our AirBnB host and JC ordered a local speciality, flamenquín.  This is essentially pork rolled in egg/breadcrumbs and deep fried.  He decided that once was enough and I turned the remains into a 'happy meal'.

I fared a little better with berenjenas con miel (aubergines in honey) although they were deep fried so, again, they were not re-ordered.  A big hit was salmorejo which is cold tomato soup.  We had a lot of that over the next few days.

On the Friday we visited the famous and amazing Mezquita.  This mosque-cathedral was established in the 6th Century as a basilica and subsequently upgraded and enlarged from the 8th Century by various caliphates.   Minarets were built and rebuilt each higher than the first.  The mosque doubled and quadrupled in size.  As you walk from the earliest to later parts of the mosque you note that the first 1/4 was built using bricks from red and white stone, whereas the huge extension which quadrupled its size was built with white bricks, and the 'red stone' bricks are simply painted red.

The mihrab.

Look up!

In the 12th Century the Christians arrived and claimed the mosque as a cathedral.

And suddenly you are transported from mosque to gothic church.  Over the centuries chapels were built inside the mosque plus a gothic nave, choir stalls, a bell tower, altar etc.  It's incredible to look at - the intertwining of gothic Christian and Islamic architectures.  Stunning.

Looking up in the chapel.

The choir stalls.

After the mesquita indulgence we found a quiet Moroccan tea shop.

And then continued to explore Cordoba.

Cordoba is famous for its patios and each year these small courtyard gardens are open to the public.  We missed the Patios contest by a few days but there were still plenty of patios to peep at.

They are beautifully tended.

We continued to explore for the rest of they day.  It was hot!

Ancient ruins (mainly rebuilt).

And also some Roman baths.  There is oodles to see in Cordoba and a few days was not enough.  

On Saturday we visited the amazing Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, built in the 15th Century as headquarters for the Catholic Monarchs.  It housed not only their troops but their family and boasts extensive, well-tended gardens, fountains and streams.

I liked the urns.

We walked past an old water wheel on the way back to our car.  In previous days this was a working water mill until floods took it out of action.

I was sad to leave Cordoba.  It is an explorer's delight and, due to its combact size, relatively traffic-free and easy to navigate on foot; in fact that's the only way to see it.  It was stiflingly hot in April.   It must be unbearable in the summer - I expect everyone heads to the hills if they can.