After taking care of that little logistic detail, I set out to explore the Jewish quarter, La Juderia, in more detail. I walked the old city walls from the Almovorid and Almohad eras (1000s and 1100-1200s, respectively), including the fabulously well-preserved Almovorid gate that led out of the city. The walls were upkeeps of the old Roman walls that needed little modification during the time of Muslim rule.
I then toured the ruins of the caliphal baths outside the modern Alcazar (during Muslim rule their Alcazar was much bigger and the baths were enclosed within the fortress walls). It was all super interesting and a lot of the room's base structure was preserved really well. I wish that the spa culture was more prominent - and less expensive - in today's society. Apparently the caliphs and viziers used to hold business meetings in the warm and hot rooms; that'd certainly make investment banking more tolerable if the office was a spa! But once again, where your average tourist seems a bunch if random names and dates, I was walking through a history I am intimately acquainted with and was consistently in awe of what I was seeing in person; all sorts of things straight from the pages of history books I've read. Truly awesome.
After the baths, I went and saw La Sinagoga, the only pre-Inquisition synagogue left in Andalusia and only one of three in all of Spain. The Muslim included was obvious as the small building was a brilliant example of stucco molding and wall print, just with Hebrew lettering instead of Arabic. Having just re-read a book about the Inquisition and the expulsions of Spain's Jews and Moors, seeing a synagogue left standing was very powerful. It survived because it'd be converted into a hospital and was not demolished for symbolizing the presence of what Torquemada and the other leaders of the Inquisition viewed as the "Jewish superstition." Spain's Jews were offered exile or conversion exactly one month before Columbus's departure in 1492, and Sephardic Jews that chose to leave lost everything. Many went to Portugal, where they were expelled under even harsher terms years later. Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews and Moors to rid the peninsula of heresies against the church, for everyone then viewed the jubilee year of 1500 as the coming of the second kingdom of Christ. Isabella was viewed as the woman of the apocalypse, and Ferdinand as the "bat," the prophecies leader who would free Spain, capture Jerusalem for Christianity, and defeat the Antichrist and his army. The discovery of the New World in 1492 and the defeat of Granada that same year did much to reinforce these apocryphal convictions. Anyway, I digress heartily. I then toured Córdoba's archaeological museum, which had a great collection of medieval and Muslim pieces and was thoroughly better at Madrid's attempt at a history museum. After that, I broke for lunch in Plaza de la Corredera, Córdoba's version of Plaza Mayor and where, in addition to the running of the bulls, the inquisition auto-de-fe's (acts of faith) were held (mostly involving burning heretics at the stake).The weather got sour and cold over lunch, so I used that dreary opportunity to go get my ticket to Granada worked out at the train station.
The rest of the night I spent going to a horsemanship show at the Royal Stables and then a late-night Easter vigil. The horsemanship show was pretty cool, mostly because of just how beautiful the horses all were. Some of the numbers were just horse and rider prancing them around, while others were more exotic and involved a flamenco dancer dancing with a horse and commanding the horses's movements with her dance moves. That was pretty interesting. Then, the Easter vigil. We started in the courtyard of the Mezquita for a candlelight prayer and then all shuffled into the Mezquita in solemn procession. We then had several Bible readings with songs following (for which luckily they had an English translation) and then several liturgy sermons (for which I did not). Some of the songs involved Spanish guitar, which was really cool to hear applied to a church setting. After about 2 hours though, with no end in sight, I bailed since the liturgies had no English translation and I no longer had any idea of what was happening. I made it past midnight though, so I'm counting that as making it to church on Easter.
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