(My first Spain post was A few comments on visiting Spain, with lots of Seville photos plus Carmen's work site)
After a few days in Sevilla we hopped the high-speed north to Cordoba - once a Roman city - to spend a couple of days there. Unlike Seville, Cordoba is a normal city which happens to have a couple of must-see attractions - mainly the Mosque - the Mesquita, which has an amazing history.
Largest (ex-) mosque in the Western world. Can not capture its magnificence with a camera:
More Cordoba pics and comments, with food, below the fold -
Train station - took high-speed from Seville to Cordoba. Very comfortable. Go First Class - it's not expensive.
Nice hotel about a 25-minute walk to the river. It's a converted old convent, bought from the RC Church. Has good gardens with swimming pools and Jacuzzis:
The breakfast room has a glass floor so you can see the Roman floor mosaics underneath. Cool. Hotel breakfast buffets in Spain are incredibly varied and wonderful:
Cordoba is a normal small city, not a tourist town except for a small part around the mosque area. Here are some small streets:
Gotta stop for a cafe con leche and some water occasionally to keep the spirits up:
Stroll along the river - the Guadalquivir again
Big mosque. That's it, on the right, as far as you can see. Construction began in the 700s, but it had expansions. Lots of recycled Roman columns inside:
In the 16th C, a baroque cathedral was plopped into the middle of it. Strange. The King thought it was terrible to mess up such an amazing structure, but the Moslems were long gone.
The vast courtyard of the mosque is delightful. Mostly citrus and some palms. Some fountains for hand- and foot-washing before entering. The usual Spanish-Muslim cobbles:
The old minaret, now revised into a bell-tower:
We climbed it to see how the cathedral had been plopped in there:
A tapas stop. Fat fried taters:
A cafe sign. Who knew there were so many kinds of paella? All rather dull to eat.
Later we strolled over to look at the Alcazar - Alcázar de los Reyes Cristiano. That place has a cool history, including having been the HQ of the Inquisition and, later, a prison. Splendid gardens to look at:
A typical parish church in Cordoba
One afternoon we stopped by the Royal Stables
We saw some Andalusian horses preparing for a dressage competition. That's the Vienna-Spain horse connection - Hapsburgs.
We watched horse-training in their beautiful indoor ring for quite a while. Dressage. I took some video but I can't find it.
