Excursion: Cordoba

This past Saturday I had the joy of going on an excursion with my program to Cordoba, Spain. Cordoba is a semi large city about 2 hours  north east of Seville. It's one of the tourist destinations i.e. a "must see." It was a pretty dreary, rainy day since it's been raining now for what feels like a month but is more like a week. I would've love better weather but after a quick nap on the bus I was ready. 

Cordoba dates back thousands of years. It was once the largest city of Roman Spain and for 300 centuries it formed the heart of the Islamic Moorish empire. This is what makes Cordoba so charming. The distinct mix of alot of different cultures all in the same area. The must see part is the Mezquita-Catedral which is an amazing sight. The Mezquita was a mosque (of muslims) but 300 years later after Spain had been Christianized, Carlos V decided that it should be a catedral (church). Everyone told him not to do it but he realized it too late and today there is the mezquita. The mezquita has all the structural significance that mosque should, including pointing towards Mecca but then it kind of changes to a totally different architectural style with angels and crosses and all kinds of gold, gaudy, decoration. 

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This is like the garden of the mezquita.

Below you can see the mosque part. Notice the arches.

Now look at the church. Totally different.

There's Jesus on the cross, in the arches of the muslim part.

Here's a door way from the mosque part. It's bordered by scriptures from the Koran.

Unfortunately I don't remember what this is. But it weighs 300 lbs and had alot of tiny, gold, individual angels.

More attempted fusing of the 2 cultures...the muslim arches and the christian.  

We also went to an alacazar. I can only describe it as like a summer home of kings. The high light was the garden but of course it wasn't really a high light because everything blooms in April and May.

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This is a Jewish(?) prophet but he's dressed in the clothes of muslims because it was a sign of the times. He had to dress like everyone else.

This from the mosque we also visited.

We stumbled onto some Roman ruins that are being restored.

This is the Plaza de la Corredera. It´s known for it´s distinct architectural style and is a popular spot for coffee of the locals.

Cordoba is divided into "new" and "old." We visited the older part of Cordoba and experienced three different cultures. You have to cross a bridge to get into the older part. The Mezquita is surrounded by the old Jewish courters. Cordoba and much of Andalucia, which includes Seville, straddles the influence of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures.

Overall I had a pretty good day. The sun even came out for a short time in the afternoon. I left feeling more educated, better travelled, and more cultured.