Cordoba is wonderful. It's small, but large enough to feel like its streets are buzzing with life come the evening. There are lovely plazas filled with cobblestone pathways lined with orange trees and every street is heavily decorated with cafes and pubs offering cafe and tostadas (toast that is typically drenched with aromatic olive oil and freshly crushed tomatoes) in the morning and cervezas and tapas in the afternoon. It is the kind of place we had hoped Marbella would more closely resemble.
Today we walked to Cordoba's best known tourist attraction, the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. The mosque is a medieval Islamic mosque that was converted into a Catholic cathedral and is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Moorish architecture. It is also said to be the second largest mosque in the world. And I have to say...it was impressive.
There were a good number of tour groups inside the building but the line up to buy entrance tickets was a mere five people - I can just imagine how long that line must be in mid-July!! We strolled around the grounds, ooh-ing and awe-ing at the grandness of it all. We then walked across a beautiful pedestrian bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir River to a small castle.
Our next venture was to see the botanical gardens. Unfortunately, they were closed. Naturally, at this time of year there are barely any flowers in bloom...what were we thinking?! Fortunately, across the road was the zoo - and that was open. So in we went. There was nothing new but we were the only people there for some time and we did get a video of their Iberian wolf pack howling and singing together!
That's it for today. Enjoy the pictures!
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| Jim sad to see the botanical gardens closed |
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| A buzzard at the zoo |
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| A pigeon that cross bred with a - parrot??? |
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| One of the many doorways into the cathedral |
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| Inside the grand mosque |
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