Judy's mother-in-law, Cheryl, came for a visit too, so we packed our respective moms up and headed to Cordoba for a site seeing/pottery shopping trip. We packed into our little car and off we went. The drive over was beautiful and Cheryl and my mom got along so well we had great conversation.
When we got to Cordoba, it was a little dicey finding our hotel. We had an address, but seriously, this is Spain and an address doesn't mean much. The gps wanted us to go down a street that clearly looked like a one-way (not the way we needed either), of course no signage was visible. It had shops and pedestrians on it too, there was no way I was driving down it. So Judy went to investigate and it turns out we were indeed supposed to go down this street! It was insane! We were in a small car, and people had to plaster themselves to the walls as we passed by. We could have put our arms out the windows and touched the buildings. We laughed all the way to the hotel. Luckily the hotel had valet parking and they took it from there, I never would have made it into the parking structure. These guys are like Houdini when it comes to parking cars in tight spaces.
After we checked in, we decided to explore the old town of Cordoba. The old town basically consists of two neighborhoods the Jewish Quarter and the area around the Mesquita. The streets are delightful and gorgeous! I was feeling giddy because of the European flair, we just don't do city streets like they do here.
First we stopped at the Synagog. This Jewish synagog is one of Spain's three remaining pre-Inquistiton synagogues, built in 1315. The stucco work was beautiful and delicate looking. Parts of it were very well preserved. You can still see Hebrew inscriptions on the walls and the balcony where the women worshiped from is still intact. After the Jews were expelled from Spain, the synagog was turned into a hospital and then a Catholic chapel in 1588.
Next...on to a bit of window shopping
As we meandered over to the Mezquita, we ate ice cream as we shopped.
The Mezquita. This building is what drew me to Cordoba and it did not disappoint. It was built as a mosque in the 8th century and was the crowning glory of Muslim architecture in the West.
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| The olive tree is supposed to be something like 1000 years old. The trunk is hollow, it is beautiful to see. |
On to the main event! Here is what my travel book said about this place...Before the Catholic takeover, the mosque had a total of 900 pillars. Remarkable, 856 pillars are still standing. Their red-and-white peppermint stripes are formed in large part by white stone and redbricks. The pillars are also build of onyx, granite, marble and jasper, filling a total of 19 aisles. A second row of arches set above the first almost doubles the height of the ceiling. Some of the most interesting pillars came from the ancient Visigothic basilica. You can pick these out by the impressive carvings on their capitals. The oldest known pillar came from Egypt and dates from the reign of Amenophis IV.
In the very heart of the Mezquita is the Mihrab, where the faithful
gathered for ritual prayers. The Mihrab was the holy sanctuary where
the Koran was kept.
This guilded domed area was called the Maksura. It was reserved for the caliph and his entourage. The domes and foiled arches ave been called flamboyant and "Islamic baroque". The byzantine mosaics, which have hundreds of pieces of tiny gold, glass and ceramic tiles, were a gift from the emperor Constantinople. The frieze in gold and blue the runs all the way around the Mihrab lists the 99 names of Allah.
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| Even the ceiling was beautiful, it seems nothing was overlooked here. |
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| The floor |
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| part of the original wall |
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| original tile work |
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| Part of the Catholic cloister. I just can't get over the craftsmanship. I know I always take pictures of these, but I can't help myself. They are amazing to see. |
Roman influences...
Dinner time...We ate just down the street from our hotel at a quaint restaurant that specialized in Jewish cuisine. Our waiter was hilarious, I'm sure he thought we were crazy for sure. We were like 4 giddy school girls eating and talking and laughing, no one was even drinking.
We shared all the plates that came our way. Which was nice because we were able to try a lot of different things on the menu. I think in the end we ordered 3 different appetizers (that were huge portions), 2 main dishes and 4 desserts. It was all delicious, we left very happy patrons. It's time for bed. We have to rest up for ceramic shopping in the morning!
