Our establishment is actually two in one - a hostal and a hotel. The difference is in the standard of accommodation, with the hostal being more budget oriented. A buffet breakfast is provided in the hostal, and it was pretty good for €5 a head. We are staying in the Maestre hotel and it is listed as encantada - charming. Our room is quite a nice and we really like the marble flooring.
The major event today was the visit to the Mezquita Catedral. Previously a HUGE mosque in Moorish times, the Christians planted a church into the middle of it when they regained control. It's rather a stark contrast. The main feature of the building is the seemingly endless columns and arches, with alternate stones in th arches painted red. It's a striking effect. By and large the Christian additions are confined to dozens of shrines around the perimeter. I would classify it as Christian Kitsch. Not as bad as in South America, just better executed. The seemingly endless procession of columns and arches overwhelms you in the same way that naves and high ceilings in cathedrals are meant to do.
We didn't think that anything would top the Alhambra but this certainly has equal ranking. It's difficult to describe this experience, so I defer to the LP: it is hard to exaggerate the beauty of the Cordoba mosque as it is one of the great creations of Islamic architecture with its shimmering golden mosaics and rows of red and white striped arches disappearing into infinity. The Mezquita was founded in 785 AD on the site of a visigothic church that had been partitioned between Muslims and Christians. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Mezquita was enlarged and embellished until it extended over 23,000 m2, making it one of the biggest mosques in the world. 856 of the original 1293 columns remain.
Afterward we wandered around the Jewish quarter again and caught the exhibits in the Casa de Sefara, Sephardic House. We learned that Sephardic means Spanish, and visited the small synagogue. The wall decorations seemed very Moorish. We decided to have a less elaborate, thus cheaper, lunch - ham and cheese rolls and a couple of beers.
We ambled back to the hotel in a very leisurely manner, enjoying every moment of another fabulous day, and then did as the locals do - we had a siesta! Very refreshing it was too. We didn't have time for the French variant.
As I write this I can hear the sound of wheely cases clattering over the stones in the street outside our window (double glazed). I think I previously characterized the stone paving as field stones, but of course they are river stones.
We wanted to visit the museum dedicated to an artist renowned for his sympathetic paintings of local women, but unfortunately missed out because of early closing on Saturday - bummer. One of his paintings is particularly appealing, it's on postcards everywhere.
The old town of Cordoba is an enjoyable, relaxing place to be – you just feel comfortable here. In this precinct you are never far from the clutches of the tourist trade which is there at every corner and most doors between to tempt you with trinkets, refreshments and meals, all at significantly inflated prices. We had asked the receptionist to direct us to a supermercado (supermarket) to get some essentials and batteries. We found several easily enough but they were really small grocery stores rather than what we are used to. I expect the bigger versions are on the outer edge of the city. Here in the tourist trap,er city, a bottle of water is €1. At the supermercado the equivalent house brand (presumably not owned by Coca Cola) was €0.25 As we keep telling ourselves (Brian, skip this), it’s part of the game..
Have we mentioned that the majority of tourists, say 2/3, are grey nomads like us.
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