Ronda to Cordoba…..and our first full day in Cordoba
Categories Spain 2017.....walking, driving, training, buses, Spain 2024, 2017October 24, 2017
It’s a travel day today as we head from Ronda to Cordoba. After a great breakfast at the hotel (included), we were good to go. It was another gorgeous day, and the drive was both pretty straightforward and pleasant as we passed countless olive groves.
…not surprisingly we later learn that Spain is the world’s largest producer. The plan on arrival is to gas up, leave the luggage at the Carpe Diem Hotel and deliver the car to Europcar at the bus station…..gassing up is relatively easy but finding the hotel turns into a bit of a horror show….I have a medium meltdown but through sheer stubbornness, we find the hotel. Unbeknownst to us this is a holiday and the inner city is a seething mass of humanity, which of course we have to drive through….in any event, we do not kill anyone nor harm Polo and the Carpe Diem Hotel appears…where to park car? >>> easy, abandon it tight to a building. Hotel staff are very cool and even offer to drive back with us as the exit from the inner city maze is not so obvious….not us, we are brave and we soldier on……finally exit, but end up on the city outskirts ….hmmm, not so smart. Do the famous turnaround, ask the Policia in the car next to us for directions and we are home free. Europcar staff are not in the office….so we leave the keys in the lock box and make our way back to the hotel, stopping en route at a pastry shop for a sugar rush + water. Almost 15:00 and we are a bit pooped….yours truly feeling not great again > spinney head (dehydrated) ??? After some recovery time, we head out for a bit of a walkabout…..nice squares and plazas, exotic-looking tea houses and historic restos line the streets…
…then the Roman Bridge with a fellow playing great tunes on what looks like an electric violin??…
… the Carpe Diem is in a great location and the staff are both helpful and pleasant. Dinner on the Plaza de las Tendillas at the Gran Bar was low-key as we watched the locals and tourists enjoying the early evening…
…then it was back to back to the hotel, as I in particular felt whipped!!!
October 25, 2017
Excellent sleep, continental breakfast and we are at the Mezquita de Cordoba at 09:30, but it didn’t open till 10:00 so we hung around the lovely Patio de los Naranjos, with its orange, olive, palm and cypress trees and fountains, the courtyard forming the entrance to the Mezquita…
The Patio de los Naranjos (“courtyard”) was formerly the site of ritual ablutions before prayer in the mosque. Its most impressive entrance is the Puerta del Perdón, a 14th-century Mudéjar archway in the base of the bell tower…..
…the neat thing was we were the first ones into the Mezquita which for about ten minutes was almost ours !!! ….AMAZING > what an incredible feeling wandering around this forest of columns (over 800) holding up a structure of some 400x 600 metres …
…this first area is the old mosque (albeit with some architectural aspects changed after the Christian conquest) with the main feature being the Mihrab (sort of like the main altar in Christian churches) …..imagine some 20,000 people worshipping here !!!! ……what a powerful spectacle …
…in 1523 the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was built and what makes this complex special was that the church was incorporated into the mosque site. The Cathedral itself is massive and was clearly built to make a strong statement of Christian dominance ….it took nearly 250 years to complete (1523–1766) and thus exhibits a range of architectural fashions…
…one of the world’s greatest works of Islamic architecture, the Mezquita hints, with all its lustrous decoration, at a refined age when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived side by side and enriched their city with a heady interaction of diverse, vibrant cultures. It is amazing to think that this period lasted some 700 years. As the crowds poured in we took our time touring this splendid monument, all in all we spent almost 2 hours and what a pleasant experience ….this is one of those sites which the tour books are not overselling !!!
Then still feeling frisky we went over to the patios area but enroute ran into the Cordoba Equestrian Center. In 1570, King Philip II, who was a great lover of horses, set out on a scheme to create a pure thoroughbred Spanish horse. For this reason, he ordered the Royal Stables to be built and which currently house the best stallions and mares of the Andalusian royal stud breed. For 5 Euros each we could tour the facility almost at will and watch the riders training…
…the setting was authentic and low-key, nice way to spend 45 minutes before walking on towards the patios area, and then along the wall of the old city > very nice promenade…
Then into the Jewish quarter through the Puerta del Almodovara…
…as it was high time to eat something, we stopped at the Casa Salinas…without much deliberation > good choice: pork cheeks and scrambled eggs with all kinds of stuff…they gave us a liqueur each at the end of our meal…
…just what we needed, it really hit the spot then slowly made our way back to the hotel taking in the sights…..a door to the Mesquita with one of the few remaining ancient Arabic inscriptions over the lintel…
…many of the street artists are very talented and well worth listening to and giving a coin or two…
…the 2nd winner in a competition for flower arrangements (different locations throughout Cordoba)….hundreds of people were lining up to see the display…
Siesta time, some refreshments and guess what dinner time, well you have to steel yourself to wait until 20:00, passed by the ruins of a Roman Temple…
…but left too early and had to sit on a bench waiting for the doors to open at the Salinas Taberna (same ownership as our lunch spot) has numerous rooms, a simple classic menu and a classic decor…anyways a great evening …honeyed aubergines, spinach with chick peas and oxtail stew + a bottle of their house red (only red offered)…
The night was young but we are not and strolled back with the crowds calling it a night…….a wonderful place to visit !!!