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Published: August 19th 2010
Saturday 17th July 8.30am we boarded The Avanti train -not the fastest- pulled out of Logrono with us and the 29ers. yee haa
Time to just sit and take in the Spanish countryside- olives grapes olives grapes and more grapes and olives. The occassional little all white village and of course the ever prominent belltower- a very pleasant way to spend 6 hours after the gift of our 4 day hike (even managed to repair my trousers). Change over at Madrid to the AVE, short for very fast train - ran like a Spanish clock not quite Swiss but you would not of wanted to be a minute late for departure. At 2.30 we pulled into Cordova in Andulucia having topped 325 kph!!!
Cordova was to be our homebase while we visited some of the towns and cities of the Andulucian region. We taxied to Patio Valderamus in the old city for our next week.
We were met by Geraldo the owner who showed us through.
It was a nice little apartment in a good location only 10 minutes from the Mesquite (mosque) but we only rated it 7 out of 10 due to no washing machine or wifi, but
very kindly Geraldo offered to take C to the 1886 convent across the street. So for 10 Euros the nuns kindly did our washing, it turned out to be one of lifes special experiences - for when I went to collect it they invited me in to sample and buy some of their home made sweets and the wifi we found in the cafe at the backpackers hotel.
Once unpacked we headed for the local market before it closed for Siesta and bought ourselves a few supplies using the best of our Spanglish dictionary and dropped it home and headed straight for the Mesquite.
The Mesquite now a Mosque become a Cathedral is declared a World Heritage site and is the largest Islamic monument in the west and the third largest Mosque in the world. It was first built in 785AD and extended over 2 centuries by the Caliphats of the region. After the Christian conquest of Cordova a Cathedral was built inside bringing Gothic Renaissance and Baroque influences which in all cover 24000 square metres. When we walked inside we didn't speak to each other or hardly see each other for about 3 quarters of an hour as we
were both in awe and could hardly believe our eyes. There was so much to take in. A Christian Cathedral built inside a Mosque in amongst a forrest of red and white arched columns, many bearing Koranic inscriptions and a omyriad of Mosaics beneath ceilings like we had never seen before created an air of undeniable beauty and real magnificance which was hard to absorb - it really did take your breath away. At closing time we were asked to leave so off to book a Flamenco show for 9.30pm and then found a side walk Casa and a few glasses of Rosardo/Tinto. We both thouroughly enjoyed the gypsy cultural art form of Flamenco, and headed home to our patio Valderamus on Shank's Pony.
Next day we had a morning of rest and then wandered our way through the old city and into the newer part back to the railway station to book our trains for the next week of travels.
Cordova's rich history dates to the first century AD when the city was in Roman rule and then from the 8th to the 13th century it became the Moors Cordova but with a Jewish prescence in the medieval city.
During the period the city had over 300 mosques and countless palaces rivalling Constantinople and Bagdad at the time. Today the influences of the Romans Moorish Jews and Christians have all left their mark on it's heritage culture traditions and customs.
Already we could see this was going to be a wonderful stepping stone for our journey down to Morocco.
On the Tuesday we took the AVE to Seville sitting on a major river to the Mediterranean sea, in hope of seeing the Flamenco museum but unfortunately it was closed. Seville is the 4th largest city in Spain and has a population of 704,000 and according to mythology was founded by Hrecules. The Moors had also lived here in the 10 th century , it was a period of great splendour architecturally culturally and economically but in 1248 it was taken back by the Christians and after the discovery of America in 1492 It became the main trading port for 7 centuries with the new world.
Our day in Seville was spent mainly on the double deck of the hop on hop off bus which allowed us to see all around the main sites of Seville which included where they
held both the 1929 and 1992 Expos. As the day reached the 40s we found ourselves a nice little spot in a Starbuks cafe of all places but it did have air conditioning wifi and comfy couches where we could have our afternoon Siesta! Later in the afternoon we did take a horse and buggy ride through the gardens of the Spanish Exhibition building from thr Latin America Expo, before heading back to the Station and our train ride home to Cordova. Next day we jumped the Avanti into Madrid and arrived in the cool of the morning - so jumped thr top deck of hop on hop off to give us a scenic drive around the majestic city of Madrid, then Ian found his way to an American/Spanish hospital to have a little lesion on his chest that had been worrying us checked and all OK with some ointment and now under control. Meantime C wandered the shops of Madrid and only bought a cake of soap and some bandaids because she was worried about her mate. We rejoined for a relaxing lunch in a sidewalk cafe both relieved all was OK and enjoyed the passing parade of Madrid
at lunch. That afternoon we boarded the train to Granada. Both somewhat smashed by the 40+ degrees of heat and we opted for an early night on arrival.
We had a beaut little Hotel in Plaza Neuva right in the heart of the old town and only a 15 minute walk up to the Allhambra and our 10 o'clock English speaking tour (taken by an Italian) who spoke 6 languages.
The Allhambra and the Generalife gardens which surround it were exquisitely beautiful like the Mesquite.
Once a walled city with 6 palaces for the Moor Caliph of the region back in the 4th to 5th century. The tour took us into the Nastrid Palace which is where the Sultans family and his concubines resided included s formal reception area to entertain dignitaries and also the palace of Justice. The 3 other palaces are now represented by boxed hedges as an outline and the remainder of the Archeological ruins.
Apart from the myriad of exquisitely mosaciced walls, floor and ornate ceilings that took your breath away (probably what they also did for the concubines) the three aspects of the Alhambra that will always remain in our minds were the position built
with the Sierra Nevadas in the background (so amazing in 40degrees + to see them tipped with a little snow) and then the Medina of white washed buildings scattered in the valley below, ( which when you looked down on made the Palace seem even grander) but then last but certainly not least were the spectacular Gereralife Gardens of the Palace scattered with mosaiced fountains sculptures, flourishing rose gardens, and hanging Bouganvillias flush with flowers it was like you were in another world. No wonder only the Sultan his family and supports were allowed to see how well they all lived - it was like another world and today a well kept museum.
On our way back down in to the modern day centre C got "taken in" by a Gypsy woman who offered to tell her fortune. The "olive branch" was a sprig of Rosemary, but of course at a cost. After her telling us I'm such sweet words how in love we were (as though we don't know) Ian offered her some change and to her disgust she ripped the Rosemary out of C's hand and wandered off in a feined " huff" - sucked in C.
"A free very
yummy Granada tapas lunch, a little shopping with some snacks for the 4 hour train trip home to Cordovia. It had been a big few days but fortunately we both like train travel and it allowed us to get a good taste of the Andulician region.
Our last day in Cordova we spent the morning at the Internet cafe trying to catch up on s bit of blog and mail and then at 12 o'clock we took a luxurious trip back into the past with a visit to a Haman Bath house including a massage. The first Haman in Spain was inaugurated at the end of the 19th century 500 years after the disappearance of the ancient ones. All Islamic Medinas have a Haman and it is common place pfor the locals to visit daily. This one that we enjoyed had geometric mosaics on the walls in the pools and Lead light glass in the ornate ceilings which through off beautiful patterns with the sun shining through, all very conducive with relaxing - just what we were needing. There were 3 pools, a steam room, massage tables, and a stone table to lie on afterwards .
The pool temperatures went
fom 29 at the hottest to16 degrees at the coldest (which Corrie was sure was zero) all together a good experience on our last day. Late afternoon we then took ourselves on a bus trip 20ks out of town to Medina al Zahara, considered to be one of the most important Islamic medieval sites in Europe. Both in terms of size (112hectarrs) and significance,
It was the political and administrative capital of Andulicia in 10 century and originally a sumptuous Palantine city, that Caliphs Abdul Rahman III ordered to be built on the foothills of the Sierra Madres in order to reinforce the image of the recently created independant Caliphate of Cordova (Mesquite). Over10000 men worked on the Contruction with 3 walled terraces and including an exquisitely ornate Royal Palace which took ten years. It was not long after destroyed by the Berbers.
In the 20th century since 1911 a tenth of the site has been excavated, but the most impressive part of the site in our opinion was a partially underground ultra modern museum, with exhibits and a movie to simulate life in the Medina as it was back in time and all in 3D - it was a
most impressive museum. We then bussed back to Cordova, took a walk across the Roman bridge, looked back at the sun setting on the towers of the Mesquite and then strolled out way through the old town to one of the classic old Bull fighters restaurants for dinner - Bodega Castella - just a nice way to end our week in Southern Spain.
As it turns out this week was to serve as a great stepping stone for the next stage of our journey across the Gibralter Strait to the Kingdom of Morocco - Hasta La Vista Espana.
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Mern
non-member comment
rock on
Hi and best wishes off to Niger Saturday morning difficult time here as Kim is just hanging on at home being discharged from the Marsden as thye can treat her no more, so little of her left but she is a true grit fighter that I have the utmost admiration for. Keep safe loads of luv Mern XXinto Africa we both go you will fly over Niger my guess? Look for the red dot XXXX