Córdoba

Day one, we rode to Villarrobledo for our overnight stop. Casa Lorenzo was a very nice, clean and friendly hotel on the side of the carretera national 310 at km 138.

Excellent dinner and the local wine was first class, 100% Syrah for €3.35 a bottle, we had 2 bottles!!!

Day two, we rode to Córdoba and found our way to the hotel blocked by road works, it took another hour in 36° to work our way around town and find Hotel Conquistador.

 

Once we had got settled in we heading off to find a cold beer.

We had a walk around the local area, a part of the Juderia or Jewish Quarter.

We also popped into the hotel which had been my first choice but had no vacancies.

Having seen both hotels we preferred where we were staying.

 

Later we had a very good dinner at a restaurant in the Juderia.

The view from our bedroom window was amazing.

Day three, we walked to the Mezquita or Cathedral which was just across the road from our hotel.

 

Begun in AD 600 as a Roman Temple it has undergone many changes since. In 784 the construction of the mosque was started and continued for 2 centuries, in 961 the gilded dome was added over the Mirab.

The minaret and orange tree courtyard were completed in 987.

In 1236 Córdoba was captured from the Moors by King Ferdinand III and over the following centuries various Christian features were added.

 

In 1520 the Baroque Choir stalls.

And further additions continued to be added until the late 18th century.

However much of the original Mosque remains including 856 of the original 1,293 columns.

 

Wooden Vaulted ceilings.

And the portals, both inside and out.

And the west wall.

We then walked across the Puente Romano or Roman Bridge, 250 metres long and on 16 roman foundations, it spans the Guadalquivir River. It was extended in 918 by the Moors to how it looks today and formed part of the city walls.

And finally we visited the Meryan Leather shop where they made all sorts of items from leather decorated with embossing and painted with stain.

Their patio opened onto the Calleja de las Flores or the street of the flowers typically decorated with geraniums in pots.

Before going out for dinner we had drinks in the hotel courtyard.

It was open to the sky so beautifully cool in the evenings, with jasmine and another sweet smelling shrub I did not recognise.

The sound of running water was very relaxing after the hubbub of the busy city.

On our way to dinner we walked through Calleja del Pañuelo or handkerchief alley.

Day four, we went to the Alcazar de los Reyes or the Christian or Royal Fortress and gardens. Built originally in the 8th century it reach major significance in the middle ages when Ferdinand & Isabella welcomed Christopher Columbus who explained his plans to find a westbound sea route to India.

It remained a royal palace for 160 years.

Later it became a civil & military court and jail.

Now it houses Roman artefacts unearthed when one of the city’s squares was being refurbished.

The entire fortress is encircled by massive walls with four towers: Lion’s Tower, River Tower, Homenaje Tower and Vela Tower.

As we left a wedding party arrived at the main entrance, presumably to hold the service in the Palace Chapel.

We moved onto the Andalusian Craft Market where artisans made items for sale such as pottery, tiles, jewellery and leatherwork.

Which took us through to the Zoco Municipal or Moorish Market place, a maze of narrow streets with shops selling all kinds of gifts and souvenirs.

Which resulted in the purchase of a pair of leather flip flop sandals.

Later that evening we relaxed in the hotel courtyard again.

Which was decorated with flowers following a wedding reception in the hotel.

Day five, we had a stroll through the old quarter to try and find some of the places we seem to have missed. Like the Murallas or City Walls, some of which have been incorporated into houses.

Then we wandered up to the Plaza de las Tendillas for lunch, it is situated between the old Jewish quarter and the new modern central district. Almost the entire square is for pedestrians only, a clock announces the time by playing guitar music on the quarter hours and a large equestrian statue of Gran Capitan a famous Cordoban conqueror is in the centre. Numerous fountains bubble onto the pavement making this square an agreeable place especially on hot summer days.

Dinner this evening was at one of our favourite places, restaurante Patio de la Juderia.

Day six, we found the Sinagoga or Synagogue. The building dates from 1315 and gives evidence of the great Jewish culture that influenced Cordoba. It is one out of only three synagogues still existing throughout Spain and the only one in all Andalusia. The synagogue is small and square, but it is very tall, probably to collect daylight from above the rooftops. The walls are covered with rich white Mudéjar style decoration and Hebrew inscriptions. Later, under Christian dominance, it became a hospital for people down with rabies. From 1588, the building was owned by the shoemaker guild, and a Christian cross on the west side of the building tells the Christian use of the house. Probably, this conversion saved the synagogue from being demolished.

As the Synagogue had not taken as much of our time as we had expected!! We decided to walk to the Palacio de Viana,

  

Located in a 14th-century palace, this museum is known as the Courtyard Museum, because the palace has 12 beautiful courtyards or patios richly planted with palm trees, orange trees, cypresses, myrtle plants and flowers.

We joined a tour of the palace which contains many of the belongings of the previous owner the Marchioness, widow of Viana. Photos were prohibited in the Palace presumable because they were trying to sell their souvenir books, but I did get a couple before the guide translated the ban into English!! The show cases contained an East India company tea service as well as Chinese porcelain, Vienna, Berlin and Paris crockery.

The rest of the house was a treasure trove of furniture, tapestries, Persian carpets, paintings, chandeliers, murals, ceramic tiles going back to the 13th century, clocks, a collection of  24 early rifles made by the Royal Gunsmiths between the 17th & 19th centuries and a library containing 7,016 books.

The courtyards started with the Reception Patio with its central palm, celestinas, bougainvilleas, roses and night blooming jasmine.

The second patio was very small and in the centre of the palace with a small fountain and mandarin orange trees. The third was the Chapel courtyard bordered on two sides by a colonnade.

The fourth was the gate courtyard at centre of the cobbled patio stands a baptismal font which has been turned into a fountain.

The fifth was the gardeners courtyard named after the tool shed in the corner!! Behind the climbing ivy.

The sixth was the Well courtyard with its magnificent bougainvillea.

The seventh was the pool or greenhouse courtyard which seemed to be in the middle of some renovations. The eighth was the garden courtyard with a 400 year old holm-oak surrounded by rose beds. The ninth was the Madame courtyard who holds a water jug spouting water. The tenth was Column courtyard designed as a venue for music and social events.

The eleventh was the Grille Courtyard with a pink marble fountain.

The twelfth was the orange tree courtyard named after the six orange trees which surround the octagonal central fountain.

The thirteenth was the Cats courtyard which attempts to reproduce the characteristic Cordoban communal courtyard overlooked by all the neighbours.

Its walls are partly covered with geraniums in pots some of which are so high they have to be watered with using a special stick with a tin on the end.

On the way back we stopped in the Plaza Corredera, which is one of the most magnificent Cordoban squares. This large rectangular square is the only place in town with Castilian buildings as they are found in Madrid or Salamanca. The square’s actual appearance has remained unchanged since the 17th century, when it was designed by architect Antonio Ramos from Salamanca. Corredera Square is the place where the first Cordoba bullfights were held. We stopped for coffee and cake in one of the restaurants and taverns with tables outside in the square.

Day seven was Monday and most of the attractions were closed so we opted for a lazy day wandering around the old quarter.

We found a calle we hadn’t explored before and at the end of it a restaurant that served the best tapas we had ever had.

Restaurante Burlaero kept our attention for a number of hours, 5 tapas and 5 glasses of wine each, so good we booked for dinner and then went back to the hotel for a siesta.

In the evening we returned for dinner ‘inside’ in the patio.

Day eight we left Córdoba and travelled to Albacete for our over night stop. Hotel Altozano was right in the centre of town, once we were settled we went for a walk around the local area. The cathedral and square,

then to the Gran Hotel for dinner

The view from our bedroom window was great

however we had a very disturbed night, the 2 clocks in the square chimed the quarter hours all night and the paper thin walls meant we could hear our neighbours conversation as clear as a bell, which would have been entertaining if it hadn’t been at 3am.

Day nine we returned to Vinarós.

All information, facts and figures etc taken from the Córdoba24 web site www.cordoba24.info/english/index.html