Córdoba

Friday, March 28th

On Friday afternoon, I took a 5-hour bus ride to Córdoba. Córdoba is in the south of Spain and was the capital of the Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) between 711 and 1492, when the Moors ruled the majority of the Iberian Peninsula. The historic center of Córdoba is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. When I got into Córdoba, Karin and her friend, Drew, who was visiting from the U.S. picked me up at the bus station and we walked to the hostel. Then, we went out for kebabs and a drink and headed to bed. It was a pretty uneventful night.

Saturday, March 29th

Patio of the mosque

Our first stop on Saturday after breakfast was the mosque. The Mezquita de Córdoba was the only thing that I knew about Córdoba and it was the only must-see thing on my list. So, that is where we went. :) The mosque is actually a cathedral now. Here's a short history lesson. The moors ruled Spain from 711 to 1492. In 1469, Isabel and Ferdinand got married and united Spain and became known as Los Reyes Católicos (The Catholic Kings). In 1492, they ordered the expulsion of all non-Catholics (Muslims and Jews), so the non-Catholics had to leave or hide or convert or go to jail or be killed, you choose. But, actually the mosque was converted into a Catholic church in 1236, when a different Ferdinand (Ferdinand III of Castile) conquered it during the Reconquista (reconquest--a 781 year period of Christian conquest on the Iberian Peninsula). Anyway, long story short. A lot of people think that it was pretty mean (to put it lightly) of the Christians to take over the mosque, but actually before it was a mosque, in the 6th century it was the Visigothic Church of San Vicente. So other people say that the Christians were simply taking back what was rightfully theirs, rather than those that say the Christians violated the mosque by changing it into a Catholic church. All I have to say about it is, that if you walk into it, it is ALL mosque. Well obviously not ALL, if you look at the pictures below, but it might as well be. The whole thing is 600 feet by 400 feet, that's about 5.5 acres, if you're a farmer. It is HUGE. There are more than 800 columns and when it was a mosque, approximately 20,000 people could and would pray in there at one time.

Mixture of the mosque and Catholic church

The evolution of the Mosque-Cathedral

Anyway, the mixture of the Mosque and Cathedral is pretty cool, but it is kind of unfortunate for both parties involved. Wikipedia tells me that Spanish Muslims have campaigned a lot with the Catholic church and the Vatican to allow them to pray there; however, they have yet to succeed. There was an "incident" in 2010, where two Muslim men began to pray in, what I guess I will call, the cathedral and two security guards asked them to stop. When the men refused there was a "scuffle," and the two security guards were seriously injured and the men were arrested. Again, long story short, it is an awesome building and I would highly suggest going to see it if you are in the area.

After visiting the Mosque-Cathedral, we walked around for a little bit, just looking at other buildings and monuments in Córdoba. There's an old Roman temple that sits next to the modern-looking city hall. We stopped by Plaza del Potro, which is apparently referenced in Don Quixote, which I have never read. Then, we did some souvenir shopping where Karin talked me into buying a flamenco skirt. :) She didn't really have to talk me into it that much. I have been wanting a flamenco dress, but I knew I wouldn't buy one because they aren't very practical and they are expensive. I'm not saying that a skirt is anymore practical, but I can see myself wearing it on the first day of school for the next 60 years. ;)

Anyway, after all that, we went back to the hostel for a little bit and just relaxed. Then, we left again to walk around and have a delicious dinner at a place called Pizzaiolo. As the name indicates, it was an Italian restaurant and it holds the Guinness Record for having the longest menu in the world, even though I would argue that good old Marina Garden in Kenosha, WI has the longest menu. :P Anyway, the food was delicious and I saved some leftovers to eat them the next day for lunch. :) After dinner, we went back to the hostel and hit the sack.

Sunday, March 30th

Me with the Roman Bridge and Mosque-Cathedral

On Sunday, we started our morning off pretty slow, but that's okay because we were in no hurry. The plan was to just walk around. I forgot to mention that the weather on Saturday was not so good. It was cold, rainy, and no one was out on the streets because of it. It was a pretty dreary town to be honest, but luckily we got to see the flip side of things on Sunday. It was what the day implies sunny and a lot more people were out and about. It made me feel better about the city as a whole. Anyway, we started our morning off by walking across the Roman bridge to the Calahorra Tower, which was a fortified gate back in the day, but now serves as the Museo Vivo de al-Andalus, a museum that talks about al-Andalus. Also, fun fact, it sits on the Guadalquivir River, which is another main river in Spain and the river was called Wad al-kabir during Islamic rule. Anyway, the museum was pretty cool, but there were some pretty dry sections, also.

A 1:40 scale model of the mosque in the museum

I included the above picture because if you look straight back you can see the mihrab. What is a mihrab, you ask? Well, it is "a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca aka the direction that Muslims should face when praying. I have two interesting things to say about this. One Mecca is east-southeast of the mosque in Córdoba, but the mihrab in the mosque faces directly south. There is a theory that it is like this because "from there you have to go south (via Gibraltar) to get to Mecca. Or maybe it's because this mosque was designed by the Umayyad branch of Islam, whose ancestral home was Damascus-- from where Mecca lies to the south." (Rick Steves) Anyway, the second reason that I am including this picture is because I completely missed the real thing inside of the mosque the day before..I know, I suck. The thing is there was a wall of beautiful calligraphy work and everything and I just completely missed that part of it had a hole in it. I mean I realized that there were a lot of people standing around the area, but it just didn't register. Looking back through my pictures, I only have a partial picture of the mihrab. See below.

In the bottom center is the mihrab..whoops

Roman Bridge, the Mosque, and the white walls of Córdoba

Roman Bridge and Torre Calahorra

After the museum, we walked around for a little bit longer, we saw the outside of the Alcázar, saw the only remaining synagogue in Andalucia (and it's only one of three left in all of Spain) and saw some beautiful patios of Córdoba. Córdoba is pretty proud of its patios aka courtyards. They even have a competition in Córdoba during the first week of May, where judges go around and look at all the courtyards and the winner gets some sort of award for having the best courtyard. Anyway, the particular courtyard that is pictured below was in the Jewish district and it had awesome shops around it. One was a shop with beautiful handmade things that I would have loved to buy, but they were pretty expensive for me, plus I don't really have a house to put the things in yet.

Inside the tiny one-room synagogue

A Cordoban courtyard

..complete with musician

After walking around in the sun, we walked back to the hostel, ate lunch, and headed to the bus station. The bus ride back went well and it was off to bed when I got back to Madrid. The weekend was great and I really was happy with the second day weather that made up for the first day. Also, the mosque-cathedral is gorgeous, so seriously go if you are ever in Córdoba. Hope you enjoyed the blog and pictures. Again, sorry they are so long! One more weekend blog to catch up on. Stay tuned, it's a good one. :)