http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Spain , Andalusia , Córdoba en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:46:15 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:46:15 +0000 Cordoba We visited the great mosque in Spanish called Mezquita. it was built in 712AD yes 712AD. Itrsquos the biggest mosque in the world since and still is. The brochure says it has 1000 colossal pillars and I would have believed if it says 10000. Unfortunately the Christians Catholics have destroyed the original artworks to transform it into a Cathedral. Irsquom not sure they succeeded http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-461078.html Ever wondered how many flights there are per year from GlasgowMalaga Thousands Irsquod guess maybe even tens of thousands with all the chartered flights at stupid orsquoclock in the morning packed with neds and louts keen on bringing the reputation of the UK down in the summer season. Out of the thousands of people who fly that route every year I doubt there are many on the outbound flig http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-460225.html There are just some things that you have to do once in your life. No I don't mean the classics get a good job car a mortgage a spouse have kids etc but a list of things that aren't as widely spoken of yet still have an everlasting impact on your life sort of like a really great Bside album or track. An example of such things are staying awake all night under the stars with only a woolly http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-453480.html A lot can happen in 2 weeks. To pick up from where I left off from my last blog I had no idea how what I would be doing over the next few days let alone the next two weeks. Ok I did end up in Granada the following weekend but never in a million years would I have predicted that at 6am on November the 1st I'd have ended up in a fountain again with Roisin and Laura dressed as a zombie in clow http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-450735.html The journey from Lisboa to Cordoba was longhellipRemember there is no direct flight train or bus between the two citieshellipThis I found out recentlyhellipThere is nothing on it on the internet. The only way between the cities is thru Seville. Spanish bus ALSA from Lisboa to Seville and then you can catch the two hours bus ride which runs a few times a day or the one hour train ride http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-446748.html As I sit here listening to that powerful vibrant and sensational Idlewild track which I've used for the title to this entry I realise that this song sums up my current situation in Crdoba I'm 4 weeks in at university here and they don't have an effing clue I'm sitting here at my desk and the site that greets me is one that suggests autumn is here. Leaves are falling it's a bit cloudy and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-446411.html Saturday morning saw Gaynor and I arriving in the Historic area of Cordoba. This city was used as an enclave for Roman troops because of its strategic importance. We were able to see some of the roman ruins which are still there. Early in the eighth century it fell to the Moors. We began our wander in The Jewish Quarter which has narrow lanes with shops selling everything from beautiful hand p http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-444398.html Alcazar Jewish Quarter walkabout Today I walked to Alcazar which was originally built by the Visgoths and rebuilt several times over history. It stands on the beach of what once was a major trading river. The river is merely a trickle now and the ancient castle is crumbling but the gardens are gorgeous. The jasmine roses hibiscus and blue morning glory were in bloom and the date palms o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-439140.html AVE zoom zoomThis was my first experience with a bullet train at one point we were going in excess of 250 Kh. Wheee that was fun Can we go again It was great watching the countryside zooming past.A funny note in the US we have the ubiquitous black luggage in Espania it is the ubiquitous red luggage. No pompoms doodads ribbons or identifiers of any sort that I can find I've no clue http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-439138.html Murphy's Law states that if anything can go wrong it will. Being an optimist I don't view the world this way. You make your own fate some things may happen for a reason to challenge you to make you rise above the hardest obstacles that get thrown in your away in order to make it to the finish the destination in your mind that you've been striving to get you. Life is good very good. I've met http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-438892.html This blog is dedicated to my good friend JoAnn Mcgarvey who has complained about the length of my 'novels'. I hope this dedication to her sparks a new interest into my tales in Spain. So here I am with an extremely sore throat and a crackly voice praying that I'll be fine to talk tomorrow when I got to ETEA for my very first day at uni. Well technically it's not classes but it's more of an i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-436281.html Ask that question in any supermarket in Andalucia and you'll always get the same response Si Si esta all the locals would say whilst pointing to a massive unrefrigerated row of long life stale dodgy tasting bad excuses for bottles of milk that are packaged in containers you'd expect to find breakfast juice in. So on saturday 050909 Rafa responded exactly like that whilst we were at http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-435230.html Yeah great ok thanks bye Says I after walking out the old Bank of Scotland building on Buchanan St roughly 3 years ago having set up my student bank account in 1015mins. Ok so time to get a bank account this time round in Spain although the language barrier should admittedly be a pain it won't take that long.....A DAY AND A HALF On Wednesday morning I had gone into the Caja Sur http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-433853.html .......Then you'd see the first flat that I looked for today as I begun my flat search So just to update you all on what's been happening over the last few days. In August Crdoba empties everyone goes on holiday so as I came out early there wasn't really a lot to do on the whole 'moving abroad' scale of things so living in a hotel room with my folks has felt to me like a bit of a summer h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-433818.html Time to get up James words you never want to hear from your mother whilst lying sleeping on a couch at 3.22am. Heck words you never want to hear from anyone whilst lying on a couch at 3.22am So guessing most of you will be thinking the same thing.....what the hell were you doing lying sleeping on a couch For once it wasn't because I got pished and KO'd at a friends house normally that h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-431698.html Cordoba and Seville day 35 July 13 July 15Metro and Bus to Cordoba and then local bus to the hotel. The hotel was right near the old town. Another very hot day so we had a short orientation walk and then very glad to visit the beautiful Mesquita not the least because it was wonderfully cool inside. This was a Mosque that had a Catholic Church inside. The Moorish design with arches and marble http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-428398.html OOOhhh and I present my second home...Where I'm studying Medicine where it's too hot DToday a moderatelysized modern city the old town contains many impressive architectural reminders of when Cordoba was the thriving capital of the Caliphate of Cordoba that governed almost all of the Iberian peninsula. The city is located in a depression of the valley of the Guadalquivir. In the north is the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-428217.html Day 466Straight to Cordoba's one and only sight the Cordoba Cathedral or Antigua Mezquita was initally built as a mosque in 785 but reverted to a Church in 1236 and in the 16th century a cathedral was built in the centre. After many years of extensive expansions and remodelling it is now a huge and amazing building. We bought an audioguide to give us some direction as we made our way round the mas http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-422997.html Well I have two weeks left in Palma. Things have absolutely reached their peak.An old au pair from two years ago is living with us now and she is actually really cool. I am so glad about that. Her name is Barbara. We go out together now since Katrina has another job and is always tired.Last week there was a Theatre festival here which was interesting. I didn't see any of the plays but I did see tw http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-418502.html Wah Okay so this weekend Katrina and I went to Feria de Cordoba. It was so crazy. We kept being told that it was going to be the most insane time like nothing we'd ever experienced before etc. Obviously we were both pumped upon hearing this but didn't want to believe it to it's full extent because we didn't want to have expectations that were too high. So. We took the LAST train from Palma to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-rdoba/blog-404499.html