The Caliphate of Córdoba: Day 1

This morning, still overcast and rainy in Seville, I left early for Córdoba. My hostel this time was in the city center in La Juderia, the old Jewish neighborhood. Thinking places would have odd Holy Week hours like they did in Seville, I threw my stuff down and headed straight away to the Mezquita-Catedral and the Alcazar to see their hours for the week. I made the genius decision to go to the tourist information center for the first time in my life, since it was right across the street from the Mezquita, and got a handy print out of all the sites in town and their Santa Semana hours. The Mezquita looked packed with the late morning tourist rush, so I walked just down the street to the Alcazar.

The Alcazar is a 14th century creation of Alfonso XI. He built this Moorish-inspired fortress on the ruins and grounds of the former Almohad - and before the Caliphal - fortress / palace. In the 1480s, during the final stage of the Spanish reconquista, Ferdinand and Isabella, the "Catholic monarchs," set up shop in the Alcazar at times to pursue the conquest of the last Moorish kingdom in Spain, the emirate of Granada. Also in the Alcazar here in Córdoba, like that in Seville, the monarchs listened to the unrelenting Cristobal Colón and his seemigky crazy plan to sail due West from the Azores in search of Cipangu (Japan), India, and the Great Khan of Cathay (who knows?). The Alcazar itself, other than it's ramparts and towers, was pretty uninteresting and disappointing, other than some fabulous Roman mosaics preserved in the chapel there. There were no fantastically decorated rooms or courtyards like Pedro I's Alcazar in Seville. The part that I enjoyed the most wasn't even open to the public; a massive spread of ongoing archaeological digs in one of the courtyards. However, regardless of the Alcazar's fortress itself, the gardens were really beautiful, and featured a massive statue of Ferdinand and Isabella receiving Columbus. My string of good luck with otherwise uncooperative weather continued; the sun came out right in time for me to walk through the gardens.

After spending an hour or so at the Alcazar, I took advantage of the break in the rain to walk across the Roman Bridge over to the Tower of Calahorra, another remnant of the Moorish occupation of Córdoba for 500 years. As the weather turned nasty again, I walked back over the bridge and made for the Mezquita. The largest and principal mosque in Córdoba, enhanced and enlarged on four separate occasions by various rulers, the Mezquita was christened as a Christian cathedral in the years following the reconquest of Córdoba by Ferdinand III in 1236. 150ish years later, Carlos I would order a Gothic cathedral to be placed in the dead center of the mosque, which was famous for it's rows upon rows of double-tiered red- and white-striped arches. After the cathedral's completion, Carlos famously regretted his decision, saying "You have destroyed what was once unique in this world." Although the church IS beautiful in it's own right, it completely destroys the symmetry and simplistic grace of the old mosque. Where once one could see across 200 yards of the arched prayer space, there are now random chapels and Gothic vaulted hallways.

I spent around 2 hours taking in the beauty of the mosque and then went back to my hostel to get cleaned up and changed for a on evening service venerating Christ's death onthe cross. It was an interesting experience, having no real grip on Catholic traditions and worship and having absolutely no grip on Spanish, but I needed to go to church in some form on Good Friday! There was a lot of standing, and a bunch of people left early, but I was determined to take communion for the first time in awhile, so I stuck it out and made it the whole 2 hours.

For the rest of the night, I went to what Frommer's dubbed the best restaurant in Córdoba and one of the most famous in Spain, El Caballo Rojo (the red horse). I gottheir specialty, bull tail roast, with an Andalusian gazpacho and a sweet almond and orange salad. Needed a good meal after being on super tourist mode and eating once a day for the last four days; since everything in Seville was only open during lunchtime hours, I wasn't about to waste time eating! But I made up for it at Caballo Rojo, for sure.