A visit to historic Cordoba

Our second day tour from Seville was to Cordoba, a city famous for its interesting mix of ancient Roman, Moorish, and Spanish history, architecture and culture. The city was founded by the Romans 169 BC. For many years Cordoba was a place of peaceful coexistence of three different cultures: Jews, Muslims and Christians. In the 10th century, Cordoba was the world’s largest city counting about one million residents.

The city's iconic feature that draws visitors from all over the world is the Mezquita-Catedral, an elegant mosque converted into a Renaissance-style church. The Great Mosque was originally constructed in 785 and was expanded over the next 500 years to a point that 40,000 could attend Muslim services inside. The mosque was converted to a cathedral in 1236 and since then only Christian services are held (they kick out any Muslims that attempt to pray inside).

The historic center of Cordoba also has a large Jewish quarter with narrow winding streets. Home owners in that part of the town participate in a garden contest every year, inviting the public in to see their gardens in the courtyards of their homes. The contest officially happens in May but typically 2-3 homes keep their courtyards open to visitors thru the summer (no fees are taken, it’s the home owners pleasure to share the fruits of their labors). We got to visit two of the gardens.

It was a hot day in Cordoba, one of our hottest, but we were able to still enjoy our time there. Now back to Seville for a few more days before we head to San Sebastián in the north of Spain.Baca selengkapnya