Cordoba in a Day

Man are we glad we took the train to Cordoba! The parking would have been crazy! The train was a 20 min walk from the historic center most of which was through a beautiful park with colorful blooming flower beds lined with manicured hedges and dotted with palm trees. The main sites are all in the Juderia (Jewish Area) which is compiled of super narrow streets with tall buildings that have these cute balconies full of bright flowers, quite beautiful.

The icon of the city is the mosque or Mesquita which is now a cathedral, the blending of Islamic/Muslim and Roman/Catholic architecture and religious traditions is really....startling. Being a bit of a cathedral nut I've seen many and this was just...crazy. The center is ornate and typically catholic but it also has typical Muslim elements and amazing Arabic carvings. It's really hard to capture in photos. While Jeremy hasn't seen many cathedrals and doesn't have the reference point of St. Peter's, Notredam and the Cathedral of Seville he was still awestruck by its size and the amount of detail.

The Mosque-Cathedral was huge but in general the doorways in this town are not...our next stop was the Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos, or the Palace, and Jeremy had to really watch his head here.... The building itself wasn't interesting at all but the gardens were amazing. They actually made the park from our walk earlier in the day look shabby. It was square after square of flowers. Roses, Snap Dragons, Pansies and Poppies to name a few, all surrounded by well manicured hedges. The most interesting part though was the irrigation system. I've seen it before in the cloisters at the Cathedral in Seville and we saw it in the cloisters of the mosque, but here it was used differently. The premise is narrow, shallow, rock lined trenches that are fed by large rain filled ponds. A series of complex doors determine where the water flows to. It was fascinating. We actually spent an hour or so relaxing in the gardens with our toes in one if the trenches. The Palace tower offered a great view if the city before we left to hunt down souvenirs and tapas.

The city is known for its silver smiths and we managed to find one in action, all of his designs are pulled from the carvings in the mosque. Dinner was a great assortment of tapas including white solmorejo made from almonds.

Before catching the train back to Seville to be picked up by Dani and Megan we spent an hour relaxing in the park watching a large group of dog owners play fetch and train their dogs. A fun end to a chill day of exploration.

Tomorrow we're off to the beach town of Cadiz...