Our first stop was Mezquita. This mosque cum church was as big as the MCG. It was 23,000 square metres large and 856 columns of the original 1293 remained.It just went on forever. It started off as the San Vincente Basilica in the 6th century. The Muslim rulers of 785 demolished it and began the building of the mosque. It was so large and spectacular that it became a model for other builders to follow. Over the following years succeeding Islamic rulers added to the mosque. Christian religious leaders contributed to it by giving to the mosque wonderful mosaics and other elements of the building. Then came along King Ferdinand in 1236, who saw it as his sacred mission to re establish the dominance of the Christian church. All sorts of Christian additions were made to the building. This included all sorts of side chapels that people donated to the church so they could be buried within them. It really was a staggering building. There was row after row of the two coloured colonnaded arches. There was a large room lined with shelves that held rows and rows of solid gold lamps, chalices crosses and the like. The organs were the most imposing and elaborate we have ever seen. If only the same effort had gone into improving the lives of the ordinary people, who knows how the history of the world might have been changed.
In the shadow of the Mezquita walls we stopped for a coffee and a delicious glazed apple and grapefruit cake. We shared as after all the eating I could definitely feel my trouser waistband getting tighter.
From here we wanted to walk through flower street to the commercial centre of Cordoba to see what it looked like on a work day. It looked so much better in the sun and with people about. We went for lunch at the Cordoba market, which like so many other great Spanish markets were housed in airy Victorian conservatory like structures. The Cordoba market was not so much a market as a terrific food mall. We has salmon, cheese and caviar tapas and anchovies, tomato and a sweet onion jam tapas. We had a beer with it and fruit we took with us from the breakfast bar. With being a bit tired and it being a sunny day, and with having beer at lunch time we got very snoozy, but on the last day of our holiday was no time for resting so we ploughed on.
We walked back to the opposite side of the river to our hotel and looked for the working water wheel that was marked on the tourist map. After half a kilometre or so we decided that either the tourist map was wrong or it got washed away in he gurgling rapids after the last big rain.
Nearby was the castle of the Christian monarchs used to be a Roman fortress and residence of Christian kings. The Alcázar which was built built by Alfonso XI was a square compound with towers. We were able to walk up to the battlements and see the view that soldiers guarding the Alcazar must have had. The Alcazar played a central role in the Spanish Inquisition. It's hard to imagine the cruelty that was perpetrated within these walls. Prisoners were kept in the tower and it was later to become a prison.
Within the Alcazar we came across a chapel. On the walls there was a collection Roman mosaics from the 2nd and 3rd century. Beneath the Mosaics Room were the Royal Baths. As we emerged back into sunlight we were in Moorish-inspired gardens with palm trees, cypresses and orange and lemon trees, ponds and fountains. It was such a beautiful, restful place. We noticed too that the gardeners had hedged the dwarf box into the same sort of circular shape that we had used in the front garden of 298. In the fountains there grew the moisture loving Aram Lillies (that also thrive in the back garden of 298). The orange trees were pruned into a tight semicircle with a flat bottom.
It was late afternoon and so time to get back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. One thing that I did want to try before I left Spain was an authentic Mojito. We looked for a bar on the way back to the hotel but it was the dreadeded siesta time. We settled for an ice cream instead.
For dinner we returned to Casa Pepe as John wanted to try their signature summer soup. It was a solid, creamy tomato soup with boiled egg and ham chunks. Then re has tapas of baby lettuce hears filled with baby eels and topped with smoked salmon. Then tapas of pork with capsicum and a very light curry sauce. Dessert was Cordobinan cake ( which was that lovely apple and grapefruit scented tart we had at lunchtime). Before we'd gone on to a 9 o'clock dinner at the restaurant we went to a light show at the Alcazaba. The day ticket we'd bought earlier in the day gave us access to this show to. At first there was a audiovisual history of Cordoba cast on to the walls and pools of a courtyard. Then we were taken down into the garden where the fountains in the pools were orchestrated to music and lights. At the far end of the gardens where we had earlier noticed a statue of Christopher Columbas facing a Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, there was a dramatized conversation of his asking for permission for his voyage to the new world. The whole thins was very good but with the lateness of the hour and thinking that we still had to get to the restaurant, we (and lots of other tourists) wandered off at the last stage of the show.
It's been such a wonderful trip and as that great philosopher Mae West said, "too much of a good thing can be wonderful". Tomorrow's morning we have a lazy country drive to Seville airport and head for Barcelona. We have a room at the airport hotel and fly out for Melbourne via Singapore on Wednesday morning. We should be home 9pm Thursday night. See you there Pez and Ginny.
It's been such a wonderful trip and as that great philosopher Mae West said, "too much of a good thing can be wonderful". Tomorrow's morning we have a lazy country drive to Seville airport and head for Barcelona. We have a room at the airport hotel and fly out for Melbourne via Singapore on Wednesday morning. We should be home 9pm Thursday night. See you there Pez and Ginny.
