Córdoba

---

I am feeling pretty good about today. My primary goal in visiting Córdoba was to see the Madinat al-Zahra, an archeological site where the Muslim ruler of Andalusia once had his palace. It was built in the late 900's but less than 80 years later the kingdom fell into civil war and the fabulous palace and gardens were destroyed. Little remained beyond the foundations when it was rediscovered in the early 20th century. Today there is an excellent museum and some reconstruction, but mostly it is fascinating to imagine what it must have been like in its (brief) heyday: bubbling fountains, gold-paneled rooms, and reportedly a courtyard with a large pool of mercury to reflect light and awe important visitors. I'll include a few photos, but frankly the site is a little underwhelming. I returned to Córdoba and wandered around the narrow lanes of the old part of town. I have been told that we are already in "high season" here and I can attest to the large numbers of tourists (see photo). I was interested in the bullfighting museum. (Note the life-size statue of a bull in the middle of the museum courtyard.) Having seen the bullfights in Madrid, I was interested to learn more about this sport. The museum has some historical information about ancient games involving bulls in Crete and Rome and there is a bit about how the sport evolved in Spain, but much of the museum is dedicated to famous matadors of the past. Here is one interesting tidbit I picked up: modern cattle (including fighting bulls) are descendants of the aurochs that used to roam Eurasia in caveman days. I was interested in this particularly because later in this trip I plan to visit caves where ancient humans drew pictures of aurochs.

---