Cordoba and the Mezquita

So, we went to Cordoba yesterday. Since Cordoba is an hour or so away by AVE trains, and we wanted to spend as many hours there as we could to justify a day trip, we caught a bus out of Velez at 7 AM. This got us to Malaga in time to catch our train to Cordoba. So... after waking up at 6, we finally reached Cordoba a little before 10.

While our primary goal was the Mezquita, since we were there so early, we ended up just wandering around. As we weren´t worried about time, I wasn´t particularly concerned with following the map. So, I ended up leading us, well, erm... off the map. Anyway, we came across some firemen on strike, and a park full of white pigeons.

Eventually, once Karen started becoming apprehensive (and needing a bathroom break), I made a (successful!) effort to get us back to the map, and to the Mezquita. She remained doubtful until we saw a sign along the path I chose that said "Mezquita" with an arrow pointing down the road. *sigh*



Anyway, this is the Mezquite. The site the Mezquite is built on was originally the site of a Visigoth cathedral which was destroyed by the Muslims to built their mosque (a HISTORICAL FACT, as my guide pamphlet prominently states). Inside the Mezquite, there is an excavation several meters into the ground that shows tiles from the original church. This occurred around 780 AD. Later on, when Cordoba fell (1236 AD), the Christians reworked the whole thing and filled it with Christian icons. So, the Mezquite is filled with Islamic architecture that frames statues of Christian saints, Mary, and Jesus.

The arches above were made by combining brick and mortar.



Stained glass window. The cielings are extremely high.




I´m not sure who exactly that is, but the detail on the walls behind him is amazing.



Another picture of the maze of columns.

After we left the Mezquite, we had lunch and went to an arabic teahouse.



The "Egyptian Tea" was quite tasty, and reminded me a bit of peppermint. Karen said she could taste the hibiscus, but... not knowing what hibiscus tastes like, I remained ignorant (Karen had actual egyptian tea once while in Egypt). Karen was excited because she got to practice her arabic on the waiter.

When we came out of the teahouse, it was raining. However, there was also a double rainbow! (in this picture, you can -barely- see the second rainbow above the first. Its easiest to see where it hits into the second highest palm frond).



A propitious omen, indeed!

Our bus was delayed on account of massive traffic (not only does pretty much everyone in the country get the last two days of holy week off, it was flooding in Malaga earlier), so we ended up getting back pretty late.

Today is just relaxing, and probably catching one more procession before heading off to Rome.

RANDOM Pics:



The city of Malaga. We got completely lost and turned around and misdirected several times while searching for a tea shop Karen thought she remembered. To the left of the picture is the port, to the right mountains.



Sphinx-like statue on a monument near the Mezquita.