Cordoba

We arrived in Cordoba just before mid day, and the day was really hot. Each year the highest temperature in Spain is reached in Cordova, and we could tell why. The kind of rock used to build the city gets warm during the day and releases the heat at night (even at 9 p.m., we were at 35 °C and felt like we were walking inside an oven!)

We dropped the luggage at our rental apartment (probably the best one we got during the trip) and headed out to our tour of the Jewish Quarter and the Cathedral Mosque. Our guide was named Miguel and was really knowledgeable. We walked through very picturesque alleyways and streets in Cordoba while he was telling stories about how the quarter came into existence across the centuries.

In the second part of the tour, we entered the Cathedral Mosque, a unique building declared as humanity heritage by the UN. The building started as a mosque, and when the town was captured by Christians who didn't have the resources to demolish the old building, they decided to reutilize it and convert it onto a cathedral

The way in which mosque and cathedral elements mix within the architecture of the building is unique and, at times, surreal. The building is magnificent although to make a point the Christians decided to play with the lighting and left the areas that look more like a mosque with shadows while the Cathedral main space is possibly the most illuminated one in the world.

We loved the tour and the gardens and spaces of Cordoba but were exhausted of the last few days, and the heat was unbearable. We got lunch at Bodegas Mezquita and tried salmorejo (an Andalusian version of gazpacho) and bull's tail stew.

Once we got home, the unanimous decision of the family was to honor the long-held tradition of having a midday nap to deal with the heat. We woke up around 9 pm, and since Oliver was still sleeping, Karina and Napoleon went for a walk to the Roman Bridge and the city of the gate while doing some required shopping along the way.Read more