Our Portugal & Andalucia Trip
Lisbon | Sintra | Lagos | Seville | Granada | Ronda | Cordoba
Initially attracted to the arches and history of the Mezquita while researching cities to visit on our Andalusian trip, this final destination on our itinerary actually blew me away for the slice-of-life true southern Spanish experience it offered beyond the walls of its most famous tourist attraction.
Cordoban history is an interesting multicultural tale of Muslim, Christian and Jewish cohabitation (all mildly tolerant of each other as men of “the book”) in a Muslim-dominated city once recognized as the largest in Western Europe. Today, it’s a beautiful, lively place where I scarcely heard a word of English, where locals walk dogs in parks and we encountered weekend weddings and proposals and charity beer festivals, and where we felt truly surrounded with culture even as tourists.
We came away singing Cordoba’s praises and I would highly recommend spending time here beyond a quick visit to the Mezquita. We spent two nights and had a full day to explore around a day trip squeezed in to Ronda.
Mezquita
This stunning cathedral-in-a-mosque is the most interesting religious building I’ve ever explored. Founded first as a Christian church and evolved over kingdoms into a grand mosque and later addition of a cathedral, the Mezquita is one of the world’s greatest representations of Islamic design and epitomizes the region’s architectural Islamic-Christian (Mudejar) relationship we’d been seeing so often on our Andalusia trip.
I was transported by the dark, calm intimacy of the banded stone arches and how it gives way into sudden baroque fanfare of gold, vaulted ceilings and staggering altars. The gorgeous Mecca-facing mihrab and monstrous monstrance in the treasury (sorry, I had to) were highlights. This was a place where, once we completed a lap, I turned to my husband to ask: Can we walk around it again? A well-dressed Catholic wedding was taking place in a small chapel corner while we were there, and I remember seeing some of the party at our hotel (Las Casas de la Judería de Córdoba, an excellent place), where a carriage decorated with bows waited outside.
Puente Romano (Roman Bridge)
We came here on our first night and explored again in the morning before the Mezquita. The pretty walk was full of strollers and knick-knack peddlers and reminded me of Prague. It crosses the wetlands of the Guadalquivir, and there is a nice park you can extend your walk along heading northeast before you cross back into town.
Torre De Calahorra
Located at the end of the Roman Bridge, this museum with audioguide features miniature replicas of the Alhambra in Granada and the Mezquita itself. The view from the top looking back over the bridge is excellent.
Plaza de las Tendillas District
Cordoba’s modern heart is north of the Mezquita and river, and a place I’ll fondly remember wandering around at night and on our way to and from the train station. Locals are out and about here, shopping and dining and enjoying daily life. We stumbled on a Christmas market, which to my surprise featured several vendors dedicated to tiny miniatures and models for nativity mangers, ranging from Cordoban-styled housing to camels to working waterfall oases. I also liked window shopping at the flamenco gear stores and, of course, a place dedicated entirely to the ubiquitous ham legs.
Juderia
We stayed in the Jewish Quarter of Cordoba, tucked inside the cool old walls and Puerta de Almodóvar gate. The Córdoba Synagogue is an interesting quick visit and the Casa Mazal at Plaza Maimónides was a great place to eat for dinner, featuring Sephardic (Jewish from Spain or Portugal) food.
This isn’t technically in the Juderia, but it’s everyone’s favorite Cordoba picture and is a quick walk away. There is a short queue to go out and back in this tiny alley for the quintessential shot up Calleja de las Flores with the Mezquita in the background.
Calle Martin de Roa
Before our 4pm train to Madrid and effective end of our trip, we wandered outside of the old walls for a quick bite of flamenquin and cañas of beer, and ended up walking down an old ruin of a wall called the Murallas del Castillo de la Judería. A friendly local showed me how to take the best picture of a wall sculpture, and drawn by the sounds of live music, we stumbled onto an outdoor cancer charity concert event where I put my best Spanish to use to read the signs for “Free Entry” and “Beer Tickets.” Locals were out in happy droves, sipping 1€ bottles of Cruzcampo and paired off to dance in a well-known routine I have only been able to match through some Googling as something like the fandango. It was so much fun and one of the highlights of Cordoba and our entire trip to Spain.
The End
Well, almost. From Cordoba, we caught our super-speedy train to Madrid, popped out from the metro in the middle of the teeming Sol plaza, and were thrown headfirst into the crazy urban beauty that is the country’s capital. (We asked our hotel staff: “What event is going on out there?” Their reply, carefully devoid of condescension: “This is Madrid on Saturday.”)
After a week in quiet, contemplative Andalusia, we had no idea what was going on and loved every hour of it that we stayed up to wander around before our flight the next morning. The Mercado de San Miguel was a treat, and I won’t forget singing 4 Non Blondes’s ‘What’s Up?” while walking by the Royal Palace of Madrid, and taking a group photo for a cosmopolitan group of foreign university friends and their tiny dogs on the base of the Monumento of Felipe IV. We’ll be back, Spain.
