Things to see in Cordoba
Wherever you choose to travel in southern Spain, or even if you are spending a few days in Marbella, Malaga and the Costa del Sol, it is well worth driving a couple of hours inland by hire car to the fascinating city of Cordoba.
The low-slung city of Cordoba sprawls along a sleepy, shallow stretch of the Rio (River) Guadalquivir, 90 miles (143 km) upstream from Seville and 103 miles (165 km) northwest of Granada. Of the three great medieval Andalusian capitals, it is Cordoba (traditionally known in English as Cordova) that best preserves its Moorish legacy.
The city's incomparable treasure, the Mezquita (Great Mosque), is a forest of stone pillars and arches so vast that a full-blown cathedral, built by Christian conquerors who ripped out the heart of the mosque to accommodate it, seems lost in the shadowy aisles. Strange bedfellows, the mosque and cathedral are a fascinating expression of the amalgam of Moslem and Christian elements that is Spain.
Attractions in Spain
One of the greatest attractions in Spain, the Mezquita stands on the edge of the Juderfa, the old Jewish Quarter of the city, where the pattern of narrow winding streets has not changed since Cordoba flourished under the rule of the opulent Umayyad caliphs in the 8th to the 11th centuries. At the height of its splendor under the Moors (North African Berbers and some Arabs), who had wrested the territory from the Visigoths in 711, Cordoba was the capital of al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia), a city second in luxury and power only to glittering Constantinople.
A pilgrimage to its Great Mosque is said to have equaled a journey to Mecca. Chroniclers of the day wrote of a city of half a million people, with 300,000 homes and palaces, 700 mosques, and hundreds of ritual baths. The same city that as the capital of the Roman province of Baetica had been home to Seneca the Elder and his son Lucius Annaeus Seneca (tutor of Nero), but which had declined under the Visigoths, became once again, under the Moors, a center for scholars, scientists, and philosophers.
It had the first university in Europe, a library with 400,000 handcopied volumes, and legendary pleasure palaces. The silverwork and tooled leathers from its workshops were world famous. The glory days of the Moors in Cordoba lasted until 1031, when political infighting among the leaders led to the disintegration of the caliphate. Seville then became the capital of the Moorish Iberia.
Today, Cordoba is a quiet provincial city of 312,000, its economy sustained by mining in the nearby mountains and by agriculture from the surrounding plains. Conveniently compact, it has clearly defined old and new sections, which makes it an easy town to tour. Exploring its historic districts absorbs most of any visitor's time, but strolling its broad, treelined boulevards and uptodate central core is a pleasant plus. While there are comfortable hotels in the city, and the Palacio de Congresos (Convention Center) was built to lure business folk, many visitors make do with an afternoon stopover at the Mezquita on a trip between Seville and Madrid.
Cordoba patios
However, Cordoba is worth a stay of at least two days, if only for the chance to drive out to the nearby excavations of the Medina Azahara, a country palace and royal city built by a 10th-century caliph. It takes time to browse Cordoba's famous flowerfilled patios, to explore the Juderfa, to loll in Queen Isabella's gardens in the Alcazar, to watch the black and white cows grazing on the marshy river islands by the Roman Bridge. Those interested in Renaissance churches, palaces, and monuments will find sights enough for several days, and the romantic can fuel their dreams by sleeping and eating in centuries-old buildings that now serve as hotels and restaurants in the heart of the Juderfa. In Cordoba, if you so choose, you truly can live in the past.
The city of Cordoba Spain
The bell tower of the Mezquita is the best place to take the measure of Cordoba. It´s open every day and worth the extra fee (in addition to the Mezquita's admission charge) to climb up, especially because the tower affords a bird'seye view of the Mezquita's roof with the cathedral rising out of it.
Bordering the Mezquita to the north and northwest are the humble tile roofs of the Juderfa, enclosed on the west by restored Moorish walls. The bridge near the foot of the Mezquita is the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) leading over the Guadalquivir to the Torre de la Calahorra, a 14thcentury; fortress , and to working class suburbs on the south side of the river. Running west along the near riverbank are the golden walls and gardens of the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, Ferdinand and Isabella's fortress, palace near the Puente San Rafael, the cIty s maIn approach bridge, whIch feeds traffic into the major north-south avenue, Paseo de la Victoria and Avenida Republica Argentina.
Farther north is the Plaza de las Tendillas, Cordoba's downtown hub where the chimes of the main clock are strummed flamenco guitar chords; beyond, the residential district rises gently toward the hills. North and east of the Mezquita are the beautiful Renaissance church towers, monasteries, and pa!aces that proliferated after the 13th-century Christian reconquest of the city.
Special places to go in Cordoba
Though its easygoing atmosphere is easy to love, Cordoba's casual attitude toward opening and closing times, especially for the less-visited attractions can disrupt the best-made tourist plans. Be sure to check on hours and day of opening when you arrIve (eIther directly or through a hotel or tourist office staff.
The Great Mosque in Cordoba
This 1,200-yearold masterwork by a succession of caliphs is so vast that not even the enormous Catholic cathedral built in its center can destroy the impact of its forest of pillars and red-and-white candy-striped Moorish horseshoe arches. In fact, as seen from the Puerta de las Palmas (Palm Door), which leads into the mosque from the Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Tree Court), the phantasmagoric rows of columns stretching in every direction screen out the florid cathedral in their midst. Visit the ancient mosque first and leave the cruciform Gothic Renaissance church section for last.
The Puerta del Perdon (Door of Forgiveness), next to the bell tower on Calle Cardenal Herrero, is the main entrance to the mosque, although at present visitors enter at the ticket gate on Calle Magistral Gonzalez Frances. Before going in, be sure to make a full circuit of its crumbling walls to see all the old mosaic-decorated entranceways (some long since blocked up).
Keep in mind that the now-murky interior of the mosque was originally open to light and air on all sides. When the caliph Abder Rahman I built the first section in 785, each row of marble columns ran straight out to its own row of orange trees in the forecourt. It was only after King Fernando III conquered Cordoba in 1236 that the Christians closed in the mosque and lined the walls with Catholic chapels. The minaret was rebuilt as a bell tower in the 16th century, when more than 60 of the mosque's columns were torn out to erect a proper cathedral in its heart.
AbderRahman 1's original square mosque was enlarged on three occasions, as Cordoba grew in size and importance in the Muslim world. By the 10th century, it covered its present six acres. More than 800 pillars stood along its aisles, for the most part antique classical pillars, some left from the Visigoth Christian church and the Roman temple that previously stood on the site and others taken from structures as far away as Italy, France, North Africa, and Constantinople. Since these secondhand columns were of unequal lengths, the builders raised the brick and marble flooring of the mosque and planted the columns at various depths to maintain a uniform height on which to support the arches. This illusion of pillars growing right out of the floor combines with a profusion of leafy Corinthian capitals to underscore the forest image.
The addition made to the mosque by Alhakem II in 961 the southwest corner, containing 10 rows of exquisite alternating rose and blue marble columns and the most dazzling of its holy shrinesrepresents the high point in caliphate art. Here, against the south wall, is the holy mihrab, a glistening alcove indicating the direction of Mecca.
Framed by an arch of golden and polychrome Byzantine mosaics, It was the repository of a bejeweled Koran copied by a caliph's own hand and anointed with his blood. Just in front of the alcove, on the site of a former mihrab, is the Capilla Villaviciosa, a chapel executed in Mudejar style (the Moorishflavored style, pronounced moodayhar, of Moorish artisans who remained in Cordoba under Christian rule), but its stalactite ceiling and plaster lacework are visible only through a locked grille.
Cordoba Cathedral and Charles V
The cathedral was much maligned from the start, and even Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who authorized its construction, deplored how it had disfigured the mosque. Nonetheless, the building has Some magnificent details. Its 18thcentury mahogany choir stalls are among Europe's most elaborate, and the big hanging lamp before the altar is a fine example of 17th-century Cordoban silverwork.
The Mezquita is open daily. Admission charge (there's a separate fee to climb the bell tower). Calle Cardenal Herrero. Note: Since there is no satisfactory guidebook for the Mezquita, a local guide schooled in the subtle complexities of this fascinating structure is recommended.
The Jewish Quarter in Cordoba
Evidence of the Jewish presence in Cordoba dates back to 814, and the city's Juderfa, north and west of the Mezquita, is a medieval quarter where Moors and Jews once lived side by side and where Europe's first Talmudic studies school was established. The former homes of two of the world's greatest thinkers, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher-physician Moises ben Maimon (aka Maimonides) and the Moorish philosopher-mathematician Averroes (Ibn Rushd) are located here.
Today the neighborhood is no longer Jewish or Moorish, and the whitewashed houses, some of which date from caliphate timesare now the residences of middle class and wealthy Cordobans. About a third of a mile of restored town wall, lighted till dawn, runs beside a moat and gardens along Calle Cairuan, at the neighborhood's western edge. A bronze statue of Seneca stands at the northern end of the wall, beside the Puerta de Almodovar, a gate that once protected the city with an iron portcullis and is the principal western entrance to the Juderfa.
Synagogue Pass through the Puerta de Almodovar and turn right down Calle de los Judios to one of only three synagogues in Spain to survive the Inquisition, though after the Jews were expelled this was used as a Christian church. (This one was built in Mudejar style in 1316; Toledo has the other two, which are grander.) Note the niche where the holy scrolls were kept and the 14th-century Mudejar plasterwork along the upper walls and gallery where the women were sequestered during worship.
The Bullfighting Museum Cordoba
The city maintains this display in the 12th-century house in the Plaza de Tlbenades. Most of the museum is devoted to bullfighting: posters, photos, swords, trophies, suits of light (the jeweled bullfighters costumes), and stuffed heads of bulls that were dispatched by famous Cordoba-born toreros (the word preferred over toreador, which is considered somewhat archaic). Such individual superstars as Manolete and native sons of Cordobes have whole rooms devoted to their costumes (some bloodstained) and personal possessions.
The Alley of Flowers Cordoba
The loveliest lane in the Judera offers a postcard view of the Mezquita bell tower framed by flowers. It s Just northeast of the Mezquita, reached from Calle Bosco off Calle Cardenal Herrero.
Fortress of the Christian Monarchs Cordoba
Much of the beauty of this fortress is in its outer walls and three remaining towers rather than in the interior living quarters. Ferdinand and Isabella were in residence during the later stages of their conquest of Granada, but the Alcazar has been a prison for most of its grim history. The legendary King Boabdil of Granada, whose surrender marked the end of Moonsh rule in Spain, was held captive here; later, the local headquarters of the Inquisition was located under this roof from the 15th until the 19th cen.tury. The Alcazar then became a provincial prison, whlch It remained until restoration after the Spanish Civil War.
Enter the complex under the archway of the Torre de Los Leones (Tower of the Lions), then turn left into the clean-lined Gothic palace, where artifacts such as a sword of the 11th-century Castilian hero EI Cid are displayed. Magnificent Roman murals from the 1st century line the walls of the SaLon ReaL (Royal Salon), now used for concerts; down steep stairs are the crumbling walls of one of 800 Moorish baths that once existed in and around the Mezquita, the Banos Califales, with typical Moorish star-shaped skylights (unfortunately, they're closed for renovation until next year).
The fortress's centerpiece, the Patio Morisco (Moorish Court) endowed with twin pools and an ivy-covered grotto, leads to the Moorish walled Alcazar gardens, filled with more pools, fountains, rose gardens, and orchards. Before leaving the ALcazar, walk the ramparts and climb the the stone towers remaining from the original four: The Torre de Los Leones is the oldest and most interesting because of its Gothic dome, but the other two, EL Rio (River) and Homenaje (Homage), also command stunning views.
The Calahorra Tower Cordoba
In the 14th century King Enrique II constructed this stone fortress at the south end of the Puente Romano to ward off attacks by his hated half brother, Pedro the Cruel, who built the Alcazar of Seville. The well-preserved cruciform tower was erected over an old Moorish fort. It's now a city historical museum where a slide show about Cordoba and Andalusia is shown daily.
The Plaza del Potro Cordoba
This famous square east of the Mezquita takes its name from the diminutive statue of a rearing colt atop the 16th-century fountain in its center. The austere plaza, walled in by the former Hospital de la Caridad (Charity Hospital) on one side and by an old inn, the Posada del Potro, on the other, looks just as it must have in the 16th and 17th centuries. It now functions as offices and a cultural center featuring changing exhibitions. Open daily. No admission charge.
The Julio Romreo Museum Cordoba
Reopened in 1993 after an extensive facelift, this frescoed building, part of the Museo de Bellas Artes complex, is devoted to the saccharine works of the 1920s painter Julio Romero de Torres, whose father was the curator at the Museo de Bellas Artes. Torres's romantic portrayals of Gypsy women and especially his Naranjas y Limones (Oranges and Lemons), a portrait of a topless woman, are the big draw.
The Plaza de las Tendillas
The heart of downtown Cordoba, this is a huge square lined with banks, cafes, and shops. At the northern end of the square, Avenida Cruz Conde leads down to the city's main shopping area; at the southern end, Calle Jesus y Marfa leads to the Mezquita.
The Palace of the Marquis of Viana Cordoba
This enchanting ancestral palace of the Marquis of Viana, with a dozen breathtaking patios and 52 lavish rooms (of nearly 100) on view, is one of the best-kept and most efficiently managed museums in Cordoba. A brochure in English describes a self-guided tour of its magnificent interconnected patio gardens, which are its star feature; a guard leads visitors through the house itself, which is a complete museum of the aristocratic Andalusian lifestyle, fully furnished and decorated with the family's art collection and possessions.
The Botanical Gardens Cordoba
Set among the pavilions and greenhouses in the Jardines Botanicos (Botanical Gardens), this museum focuses on the 500 year exchange of vegetable species between the Amerindian and Mediterranean cultures. Exhibits include a profusion of Iberian and Latin American plants, as well as traditional farming implements and interpretive videos. Open daily. Admission charge. Av. de Linneo.
The Medina Azahara near Cordoba
Dry and olive-dotted near the Sierra foothills just 4 miles (6 km) west of Cordoba is the site of the extensively excavated and delightfully restored pleasure palace and city built by Abder Rahman III for his favorite wife, Azahara, in 936. Clearly marked paths descend through a terraced town that once housed 20,000 royal retainers and served as the seat of Cordoba's government for 70 years.
No expense was spared in laying out its royal palace, great mosque, 400 houses, army barracks, royal mint, gardens, fish ponds, orchards, fountains, heavy fortifications, and ornate gateways, spread over 275 acres. Excavation began in 1914 and proceeded fitfully until recent years, when the pace was stepped up. Much of what the visitor sees are foundations and ruined shells of buildings, but the magnificent, colonnaded Dar al Mulk, or royal apartment complex, with delicate plasterwork, intricate stone carving, and majestic proportions, has already been roofed Over and is being meticulously reconstructed.
Car hire in Cordoba
If you are looking to hire a car and travel around Cordoba, it will save you time and money if you pre-book your car hire from Malaga, Granada or Cordoba Airport before you fly. If you are planning to tour around Andalusia, then make the most of your car hire and arrange to drop it off at a convenient airport.
Fiesta de Los Patios Cordoba
The famous Fiesta de Los Patios draws visitors to the city during the first two weeks in May. Everyone goes from one private patio to another admiring walls literally covered with gorgeously planted flowerpots, and prizes are awarded for the best displays. At the same time, public plazas are decked with flowers and flowered crosses. This is followed by the annual Feria de Nuestra Senora de La Salud (Fair of Our Lady of HeaIth) simply Feria for short held the last week in May.
Cordoba's fair is especially festive because of its location in the heart of town: Casetas (private tents for entertaining) and the midway Ferris wheel, merrygoround, and snack stands run the length of the Jmdines de La Victoria (Gardens of Victory) and flamenco contests, concerts, ballet performances, parades, fireworks, and displays of Cordoban horsemanship fill the streets.
The annual Festival de La Guitarra Paco Pena, a celebration of flamenco and Spanish classical guitar, attracts leading musicians including the London-based but locally born Pefia himself.
The low-slung city of Cordoba sprawls along a sleepy, shallow stretch of the Rio (River) Guadalquivir, 90 miles (143 km) upstream from Seville and 103 miles (165 km) northwest of Granada. Of the three great medieval Andalusian capitals, it is Cordoba (traditionally known in English as Cordova) that best preserves its Moorish legacy.
The city's incomparable treasure, the Mezquita (Great Mosque), is a forest of stone pillars and arches so vast that a full-blown cathedral, built by Christian conquerors who ripped out the heart of the mosque to accommodate it, seems lost in the shadowy aisles. Strange bedfellows, the mosque and cathedral are a fascinating expression of the amalgam of Moslem and Christian elements that is Spain.
Attractions in Spain
One of the greatest attractions in Spain, the Mezquita stands on the edge of the Juderfa, the old Jewish Quarter of the city, where the pattern of narrow winding streets has not changed since Cordoba flourished under the rule of the opulent Umayyad caliphs in the 8th to the 11th centuries. At the height of its splendor under the Moors (North African Berbers and some Arabs), who had wrested the territory from the Visigoths in 711, Cordoba was the capital of al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia), a city second in luxury and power only to glittering Constantinople.
A pilgrimage to its Great Mosque is said to have equaled a journey to Mecca. Chroniclers of the day wrote of a city of half a million people, with 300,000 homes and palaces, 700 mosques, and hundreds of ritual baths. The same city that as the capital of the Roman province of Baetica had been home to Seneca the Elder and his son Lucius Annaeus Seneca (tutor of Nero), but which had declined under the Visigoths, became once again, under the Moors, a center for scholars, scientists, and philosophers.
It had the first university in Europe, a library with 400,000 handcopied volumes, and legendary pleasure palaces. The silverwork and tooled leathers from its workshops were world famous. The glory days of the Moors in Cordoba lasted until 1031, when political infighting among the leaders led to the disintegration of the caliphate. Seville then became the capital of the Moorish Iberia.
Today, Cordoba is a quiet provincial city of 312,000, its economy sustained by mining in the nearby mountains and by agriculture from the surrounding plains. Conveniently compact, it has clearly defined old and new sections, which makes it an easy town to tour. Exploring its historic districts absorbs most of any visitor's time, but strolling its broad, treelined boulevards and uptodate central core is a pleasant plus. While there are comfortable hotels in the city, and the Palacio de Congresos (Convention Center) was built to lure business folk, many visitors make do with an afternoon stopover at the Mezquita on a trip between Seville and Madrid.
Cordoba patios
However, Cordoba is worth a stay of at least two days, if only for the chance to drive out to the nearby excavations of the Medina Azahara, a country palace and royal city built by a 10th-century caliph. It takes time to browse Cordoba's famous flowerfilled patios, to explore the Juderfa, to loll in Queen Isabella's gardens in the Alcazar, to watch the black and white cows grazing on the marshy river islands by the Roman Bridge. Those interested in Renaissance churches, palaces, and monuments will find sights enough for several days, and the romantic can fuel their dreams by sleeping and eating in centuries-old buildings that now serve as hotels and restaurants in the heart of the Juderfa. In Cordoba, if you so choose, you truly can live in the past.
The city of Cordoba Spain
The bell tower of the Mezquita is the best place to take the measure of Cordoba. It´s open every day and worth the extra fee (in addition to the Mezquita's admission charge) to climb up, especially because the tower affords a bird'seye view of the Mezquita's roof with the cathedral rising out of it.
Bordering the Mezquita to the north and northwest are the humble tile roofs of the Juderfa, enclosed on the west by restored Moorish walls. The bridge near the foot of the Mezquita is the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) leading over the Guadalquivir to the Torre de la Calahorra, a 14thcentury; fortress , and to working class suburbs on the south side of the river. Running west along the near riverbank are the golden walls and gardens of the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, Ferdinand and Isabella's fortress, palace near the Puente San Rafael, the cIty s maIn approach bridge, whIch feeds traffic into the major north-south avenue, Paseo de la Victoria and Avenida Republica Argentina.
Farther north is the Plaza de las Tendillas, Cordoba's downtown hub where the chimes of the main clock are strummed flamenco guitar chords; beyond, the residential district rises gently toward the hills. North and east of the Mezquita are the beautiful Renaissance church towers, monasteries, and pa!aces that proliferated after the 13th-century Christian reconquest of the city.
Special places to go in Cordoba
Though its easygoing atmosphere is easy to love, Cordoba's casual attitude toward opening and closing times, especially for the less-visited attractions can disrupt the best-made tourist plans. Be sure to check on hours and day of opening when you arrIve (eIther directly or through a hotel or tourist office staff.
The Great Mosque in Cordoba
This 1,200-yearold masterwork by a succession of caliphs is so vast that not even the enormous Catholic cathedral built in its center can destroy the impact of its forest of pillars and red-and-white candy-striped Moorish horseshoe arches. In fact, as seen from the Puerta de las Palmas (Palm Door), which leads into the mosque from the Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Tree Court), the phantasmagoric rows of columns stretching in every direction screen out the florid cathedral in their midst. Visit the ancient mosque first and leave the cruciform Gothic Renaissance church section for last.
The Puerta del Perdon (Door of Forgiveness), next to the bell tower on Calle Cardenal Herrero, is the main entrance to the mosque, although at present visitors enter at the ticket gate on Calle Magistral Gonzalez Frances. Before going in, be sure to make a full circuit of its crumbling walls to see all the old mosaic-decorated entranceways (some long since blocked up).
Keep in mind that the now-murky interior of the mosque was originally open to light and air on all sides. When the caliph Abder Rahman I built the first section in 785, each row of marble columns ran straight out to its own row of orange trees in the forecourt. It was only after King Fernando III conquered Cordoba in 1236 that the Christians closed in the mosque and lined the walls with Catholic chapels. The minaret was rebuilt as a bell tower in the 16th century, when more than 60 of the mosque's columns were torn out to erect a proper cathedral in its heart.
AbderRahman 1's original square mosque was enlarged on three occasions, as Cordoba grew in size and importance in the Muslim world. By the 10th century, it covered its present six acres. More than 800 pillars stood along its aisles, for the most part antique classical pillars, some left from the Visigoth Christian church and the Roman temple that previously stood on the site and others taken from structures as far away as Italy, France, North Africa, and Constantinople. Since these secondhand columns were of unequal lengths, the builders raised the brick and marble flooring of the mosque and planted the columns at various depths to maintain a uniform height on which to support the arches. This illusion of pillars growing right out of the floor combines with a profusion of leafy Corinthian capitals to underscore the forest image.
The addition made to the mosque by Alhakem II in 961 the southwest corner, containing 10 rows of exquisite alternating rose and blue marble columns and the most dazzling of its holy shrinesrepresents the high point in caliphate art. Here, against the south wall, is the holy mihrab, a glistening alcove indicating the direction of Mecca.
Framed by an arch of golden and polychrome Byzantine mosaics, It was the repository of a bejeweled Koran copied by a caliph's own hand and anointed with his blood. Just in front of the alcove, on the site of a former mihrab, is the Capilla Villaviciosa, a chapel executed in Mudejar style (the Moorishflavored style, pronounced moodayhar, of Moorish artisans who remained in Cordoba under Christian rule), but its stalactite ceiling and plaster lacework are visible only through a locked grille.
Cordoba Cathedral and Charles V
The cathedral was much maligned from the start, and even Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who authorized its construction, deplored how it had disfigured the mosque. Nonetheless, the building has Some magnificent details. Its 18thcentury mahogany choir stalls are among Europe's most elaborate, and the big hanging lamp before the altar is a fine example of 17th-century Cordoban silverwork.
The Mezquita is open daily. Admission charge (there's a separate fee to climb the bell tower). Calle Cardenal Herrero. Note: Since there is no satisfactory guidebook for the Mezquita, a local guide schooled in the subtle complexities of this fascinating structure is recommended.
The Jewish Quarter in Cordoba
Evidence of the Jewish presence in Cordoba dates back to 814, and the city's Juderfa, north and west of the Mezquita, is a medieval quarter where Moors and Jews once lived side by side and where Europe's first Talmudic studies school was established. The former homes of two of the world's greatest thinkers, the 12th-century Jewish philosopher-physician Moises ben Maimon (aka Maimonides) and the Moorish philosopher-mathematician Averroes (Ibn Rushd) are located here.
Today the neighborhood is no longer Jewish or Moorish, and the whitewashed houses, some of which date from caliphate timesare now the residences of middle class and wealthy Cordobans. About a third of a mile of restored town wall, lighted till dawn, runs beside a moat and gardens along Calle Cairuan, at the neighborhood's western edge. A bronze statue of Seneca stands at the northern end of the wall, beside the Puerta de Almodovar, a gate that once protected the city with an iron portcullis and is the principal western entrance to the Juderfa.
Synagogue Pass through the Puerta de Almodovar and turn right down Calle de los Judios to one of only three synagogues in Spain to survive the Inquisition, though after the Jews were expelled this was used as a Christian church. (This one was built in Mudejar style in 1316; Toledo has the other two, which are grander.) Note the niche where the holy scrolls were kept and the 14th-century Mudejar plasterwork along the upper walls and gallery where the women were sequestered during worship.
The Bullfighting Museum Cordoba
The city maintains this display in the 12th-century house in the Plaza de Tlbenades. Most of the museum is devoted to bullfighting: posters, photos, swords, trophies, suits of light (the jeweled bullfighters costumes), and stuffed heads of bulls that were dispatched by famous Cordoba-born toreros (the word preferred over toreador, which is considered somewhat archaic). Such individual superstars as Manolete and native sons of Cordobes have whole rooms devoted to their costumes (some bloodstained) and personal possessions.
The Alley of Flowers Cordoba
The loveliest lane in the Judera offers a postcard view of the Mezquita bell tower framed by flowers. It s Just northeast of the Mezquita, reached from Calle Bosco off Calle Cardenal Herrero.
Fortress of the Christian Monarchs Cordoba
Much of the beauty of this fortress is in its outer walls and three remaining towers rather than in the interior living quarters. Ferdinand and Isabella were in residence during the later stages of their conquest of Granada, but the Alcazar has been a prison for most of its grim history. The legendary King Boabdil of Granada, whose surrender marked the end of Moonsh rule in Spain, was held captive here; later, the local headquarters of the Inquisition was located under this roof from the 15th until the 19th cen.tury. The Alcazar then became a provincial prison, whlch It remained until restoration after the Spanish Civil War.
Enter the complex under the archway of the Torre de Los Leones (Tower of the Lions), then turn left into the clean-lined Gothic palace, where artifacts such as a sword of the 11th-century Castilian hero EI Cid are displayed. Magnificent Roman murals from the 1st century line the walls of the SaLon ReaL (Royal Salon), now used for concerts; down steep stairs are the crumbling walls of one of 800 Moorish baths that once existed in and around the Mezquita, the Banos Califales, with typical Moorish star-shaped skylights (unfortunately, they're closed for renovation until next year).
The fortress's centerpiece, the Patio Morisco (Moorish Court) endowed with twin pools and an ivy-covered grotto, leads to the Moorish walled Alcazar gardens, filled with more pools, fountains, rose gardens, and orchards. Before leaving the ALcazar, walk the ramparts and climb the the stone towers remaining from the original four: The Torre de Los Leones is the oldest and most interesting because of its Gothic dome, but the other two, EL Rio (River) and Homenaje (Homage), also command stunning views.
The Calahorra Tower Cordoba
In the 14th century King Enrique II constructed this stone fortress at the south end of the Puente Romano to ward off attacks by his hated half brother, Pedro the Cruel, who built the Alcazar of Seville. The well-preserved cruciform tower was erected over an old Moorish fort. It's now a city historical museum where a slide show about Cordoba and Andalusia is shown daily.
The Plaza del Potro Cordoba
This famous square east of the Mezquita takes its name from the diminutive statue of a rearing colt atop the 16th-century fountain in its center. The austere plaza, walled in by the former Hospital de la Caridad (Charity Hospital) on one side and by an old inn, the Posada del Potro, on the other, looks just as it must have in the 16th and 17th centuries. It now functions as offices and a cultural center featuring changing exhibitions. Open daily. No admission charge.
The Julio Romreo Museum Cordoba
Reopened in 1993 after an extensive facelift, this frescoed building, part of the Museo de Bellas Artes complex, is devoted to the saccharine works of the 1920s painter Julio Romero de Torres, whose father was the curator at the Museo de Bellas Artes. Torres's romantic portrayals of Gypsy women and especially his Naranjas y Limones (Oranges and Lemons), a portrait of a topless woman, are the big draw.
The Plaza de las Tendillas
The heart of downtown Cordoba, this is a huge square lined with banks, cafes, and shops. At the northern end of the square, Avenida Cruz Conde leads down to the city's main shopping area; at the southern end, Calle Jesus y Marfa leads to the Mezquita.
The Palace of the Marquis of Viana Cordoba
This enchanting ancestral palace of the Marquis of Viana, with a dozen breathtaking patios and 52 lavish rooms (of nearly 100) on view, is one of the best-kept and most efficiently managed museums in Cordoba. A brochure in English describes a self-guided tour of its magnificent interconnected patio gardens, which are its star feature; a guard leads visitors through the house itself, which is a complete museum of the aristocratic Andalusian lifestyle, fully furnished and decorated with the family's art collection and possessions.
The Botanical Gardens Cordoba
Set among the pavilions and greenhouses in the Jardines Botanicos (Botanical Gardens), this museum focuses on the 500 year exchange of vegetable species between the Amerindian and Mediterranean cultures. Exhibits include a profusion of Iberian and Latin American plants, as well as traditional farming implements and interpretive videos. Open daily. Admission charge. Av. de Linneo.
The Medina Azahara near Cordoba
Dry and olive-dotted near the Sierra foothills just 4 miles (6 km) west of Cordoba is the site of the extensively excavated and delightfully restored pleasure palace and city built by Abder Rahman III for his favorite wife, Azahara, in 936. Clearly marked paths descend through a terraced town that once housed 20,000 royal retainers and served as the seat of Cordoba's government for 70 years.
No expense was spared in laying out its royal palace, great mosque, 400 houses, army barracks, royal mint, gardens, fish ponds, orchards, fountains, heavy fortifications, and ornate gateways, spread over 275 acres. Excavation began in 1914 and proceeded fitfully until recent years, when the pace was stepped up. Much of what the visitor sees are foundations and ruined shells of buildings, but the magnificent, colonnaded Dar al Mulk, or royal apartment complex, with delicate plasterwork, intricate stone carving, and majestic proportions, has already been roofed Over and is being meticulously reconstructed.
Car hire in Cordoba
If you are looking to hire a car and travel around Cordoba, it will save you time and money if you pre-book your car hire from Malaga, Granada or Cordoba Airport before you fly. If you are planning to tour around Andalusia, then make the most of your car hire and arrange to drop it off at a convenient airport.
Fiesta de Los Patios Cordoba
The famous Fiesta de Los Patios draws visitors to the city during the first two weeks in May. Everyone goes from one private patio to another admiring walls literally covered with gorgeously planted flowerpots, and prizes are awarded for the best displays. At the same time, public plazas are decked with flowers and flowered crosses. This is followed by the annual Feria de Nuestra Senora de La Salud (Fair of Our Lady of HeaIth) simply Feria for short held the last week in May.
Cordoba's fair is especially festive because of its location in the heart of town: Casetas (private tents for entertaining) and the midway Ferris wheel, merrygoround, and snack stands run the length of the Jmdines de La Victoria (Gardens of Victory) and flamenco contests, concerts, ballet performances, parades, fireworks, and displays of Cordoban horsemanship fill the streets.
The annual Festival de La Guitarra Paco Pena, a celebration of flamenco and Spanish classical guitar, attracts leading musicians including the London-based but locally born Pefia himself.
Labels: Car hire in Cordoba
posted by Fay at
5:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home