{"id":1117,"date":"2018-04-14T07:51:43","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T14:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/blog\/?p=1117"},"modified":"2018-04-14T07:52:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-14T14:52:30","slug":"things-to-do-in-cordoba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/?p=1117","title":{"rendered":"Things to do in Cordoba"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Roman Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A thousand years ago C\u00f3rdoba (Spain) was the largest city in the world, with a population three times its current 320,000. It was the capital of the\u00a0Caliphate of C\u00f3rdoba, which for several hundred years\u00a0controlled \u00a0much of the Iberian peninsula. The Umayyad Caliphate is long gone, but its heritage\u00a0is visible throughout the historic centre, best represented by the spellbinding Mosque-Cathedral.<\/p>\n

Mosque \/ Cathedral of C\u00f3rdoba<\/strong> –\u00a0One of Spain\u2019s cultural wonders, this astounding complex dates to the 900s at a time when C\u00f3rdoba was Europe\u2019s leading city for science and culture\u00a0under the rule of Emir Abd-ar-Rahman.\u00a0There could be no finer symbol of this golden age than the forest of columns and horseshoe arches that greet you upon entry, with their two-tone brick\u00a0and stone pattern.\u00a0There are 850 columns in total, and the effect of the sunlight that filters through the hall is unforgettable, as is the Mihrab (apse) with its gilded\u00a0calligraphy.\u00a0The mosque became a church as soon as C\u00f3rdoba was retaken in 1236, and from then a number of chapels were built, culminating with the cathedral\u00a0nave in the 1500s.<\/p>\n

Patio de los Naranjos<\/strong> –\u00a0The main entranceway to the complex is the\u00a0courtyard where Muslim worshippers would\u00a0perform their ablutions before prayer.\u00a0Not a great deal has changed since then: The\u00a0fountains are still here, as is the grid of 98\u00a0orange trees that are particularly pretty and fragrant in spring when they\u2019re in\u00a0bloom.\u00a0On the north west and east sides of the courtyard are arcaded galleries and if you walk along these and look up you\u2019ll see their original delicately-carved\u00a0coffered ceilings.\u00a0On the south side are the 17 horseshoe arches that lead to the Mosque.<\/p>\n

Alc\u00e1zar de los Reyes Cristianos<\/strong> –\u00a0This marvellous royal compound has had a long and complicated history.\u00a0It was the site of a Visigothic fortress before falling to the Umayyad Caliphate, under which it was expanded in the early-medieval period as the city\u00a0around it thrived.\u00a0Gardens, courtyards, baths and the largest library in Western Europe were all added.\u00a0After C\u00f3rdoba fell to the Christian forces in the 13th century it became a palace and the seat of the Castilian Royal Court.\u00a0Later it was the headquarters of the inquisition for three centuries. The gardens alone sprawl across 55,000square metres and were originally fed by the great Albolafia\u00a0waterwheel that helped channel water from the Guadalquivir\u00a0River.<\/p>\n

Historic Centre<\/strong> – C\u00f3rdoba has one of the largest old-towns in Europe, and it\u2019s protected by UNESCO. This city\u00a0is famed for its patios, large interior courtyards that\u00a0offered needed shade to the Romans and then the Moors.\u00a0Also devised to help C\u00f3rdoba\u2019s citizens \u00a0keep cool are the twisting alleys, which are \u00a0remain cloaked in shadow for much of the day.\u00a0Away from the big monuments just see where your curiosity carries you: A couple of the courtyard doors will be open and you can peek inside, or\u00a0chance upon a secluded little square with orange trees.<\/p>\n

Jewish Quarter<\/strong> –\u00a0North and west of the Grand Mosque is the city\u2019s Jewish quarter, which retains the street-plan it had as a ghetto hundreds of years ago.\u00a0The Jews were expelled from Spain in the late-15th century, but during the Caliphate C\u00f3rdoba\u2019s Jewish population thrived and it was home to\u00a0Maimonides, the 12th-century Sephardic polymath.\u00a0In the 21st century it\u2019s quite a posh part of the city, home to the Calleja de las Flores (little street of flowers), and true to its name it\u2019s fragrant and\u00a0colourful at any time of year.\u00a0The main indication that there was a Jewish population is the Synagogue, one of only three left in Spain.<\/p>\n

Roman Bridge<\/strong> –\u00a0Crossing the Guadalquivir along this Augustan footbridge is just one of those\u00a0things every visitor to C\u00f3rdoba has to do.\u00a0The panoramas are postcard-worthy, whether you\u2019re on the south bank viewing the\u00a0Calahorra Tower and 16 arches with the Great Mosque in the background, \u00a0or\u00a0making the exciting crossing to the old city.\u00a0It dates right back to the 1st century, but the structure today is completely medieval.\u00a0This helped earn it a role in Season 5 of the TV show, Game of Thrones.\u00a0Come at sunset when the stones of the bridge and cityscape are bathed in an orange glow.<\/p>\n

Calahorra Tower<\/strong> –\u00a0This is a Moorish fortification from the time of the Almohad Caliphate in the early-13th century and guards the southern entrance to the Roman Bridge.\u00a0Reinforcements were made in the 14th-century during the reign Henry II of Castile, and that\u2019s exactly how it looks today.\u00a0It did a good job of keeping Henry\u2019s brother Peter the Cruel out of the city in 1369 before becoming a prison and then a girl\u2019s school in the 1800s.\u00a0Duck inside for a great little museum about life in Al-Andalus, with 3D presentations of the city in this era and insight about how Christians, Jews and\u00a0Muslims coexisted in the city.<\/p>\n

Medina Azahara<\/strong> –\u00a0One of the world\u2019s most beautiful vanity projects, this Moorish city to the west of C\u00f3rdoba was built by Abd-ar-Rahman III to put the other rulers across\u00a0the Islamic world in the shade.\u00a0It was to be the capital of the Caliphate, but despite 25 years of construction only stood for 65 years: It was sacked by North African Berbers and\u00a0forgotten until 1911. What\u2019s amazing is how well the site has\u00a0been restored, as you pass through a mosque, marble-paved gardens, offices, bath houses,\u00a0dignitary\u2019s houses and military structures.\u00a0The hall is particularly special, where the Caliph received visiting politicians and civil servants.<\/p>\n

Palacio de Viana<\/strong> –\u00a0Get to the Santa Marina district to see this sumptuous Palace-Museum and its 12 exquisite courtyards.\u00a0The building is from the 14th-century with a renaissance facade that was added a century later.\u00a0A Spanish noble family that had owned the building for generations donated it to the bank Cajasur, which opened it up to the public in the 80s.\u00a0You\u2019ll see their art and furniture collections in situ and tread with awe through the medieval internal courtyards, each with a slightly different theme and\u00a0story to tell.<\/p>\n

Archaeological Museum<\/strong> –\u00a0When this attraction was being expanded a few years back the builders happened upon a Roman theatre, the largest in Spain, which was a happy\u00a0coincidence! This site is has been fully excavated and is now\u00a0a key part of the museum.\u00a0Most of the museum is in the eight halls and three courtyards of a renaissance palace that was home to the P\u00e1ez de Castillejo family.\u00a0Collections go back to prehistory and up to medieval times, but the best bits are from the Iberian and Roman periods.\u00a0The Iberian Lion of Nueva Carteya is a must: It\u2019s from the 4th century BC and was discovered when a motorway was being built.<\/p>\n

Plaza de la Corredera<\/strong> –\u00a0After your adventure through C\u00f3rdoba\u2019s exotic ruins and old city, here\u2019s a reminder that you\u2019re still in Spain.\u00a0It\u2019s a classic Castilian plaza that was built in the late-1600s by the Salamancan architect Antonio Ram\u00f3s Vald\u00e9s, and measures 113 metres by 55. As with\u00a0all Spanish central squares it\u2019s one of the centres of\u00a0daily life and at all sides are arcades that let you escape the glare of the sun in summer.\u00a0For many years the city\u2019s bullfights were held right here and then it was the site of the city\u2019s food market.\u00a0Now it\u2019s a vast open space: A fine venue for summer concerts and \u00a0the elegant backdrop for a stroll at any other time.<\/p>\n

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Hammam<\/strong> –\u00a0This amenity, a couple of minutes on foot from the mosque,\u00a0isn\u2019t original, but instead recreates the experience of visiting \u00a0real Moorish baths.\u00a0In the Caliphate there were literally hundreds of hammams around the city, but nearly all were demolished because of their dodgy reputation.\u00a0The building, with its horseshoe arches and gemoetric tiles, is a faithful copy of a bathing complex and was built in 2001, so it\u2019s worth a visit for that\u00a0alone.\u00a0And after days of trekking through the city streets you could probably do with a massage or relaxing in these soothing waters for a while.<\/p>\n

Patios de C\u00f3rdoba<\/strong> –\u00a0May is when C\u00f3rdoba celebrates, and in the 2nd week of the month the city throws open the doors to its many interior courtyards.\u00a0It\u2019s the most fragrant time to be in the city, when jasmine and orange blossom fills the air and the residents compete to make their courtyards the best in\u00a0the city.\u00a0It\u2019s a fabulous way to nose around 50 or more courtyards that you wouldn\u2019t normally see, and people take the competition very seriously, decorating\u00a0their patios with colourful flower arrangements and mosaics.\u00a0The city\u2019s many convents and other religious buildings also take part, and at night the city hums with the sound of flamenco guitar.<\/p>\n

Feria de C\u00f3rdoba<\/strong> –\u00a0On the back of the Patios festival is C\u00f3rdoba\u2019s annual spring fair, which has its\u00a0roots in the 13th-century.\u00a0It runs for a week at the end of May and is centred on the recinto, fairgrounds on\u00a0the southeastern edge of the city, where huge Moorish-style arches invite you in.\u00a0There are some 100 tents, or casetas, where people go to eat, drink and make merry\u00a0from the early afternoon until dawn the next day.\u00a0Sevillanas, classic dances influenced by flamenco and Castilian folk, are integral to the celebrations.\u00a0Also part of the fun are traditional fairground rides, equestrian shows, firework displays and all kinds of old-time amusements.<\/p>\n

Aquasierra<\/strong> –\u00a0C\u00f3rdoba is landlocked, far from the Mediterranean, and when you factor in the sub-tropical climate with scorching highs that hit the 40s in summer\u00a0you\u2019re going to need to cool off.\u00a0The only water park in the province is one way to do it, and it\u2019s open from June to September.\u00a0Teenagers and little ones will be most pleased with the seven plunges and the massive pool with an artificial beach.\u00a0If adults shell out a little more they can get a sunlounger and table at the VIP area, away from the crowds and noise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A thousand years ago C\u00f3rdoba (Spain) was the largest city in the world, with a population three times its current 320,000. It was the capital of the\u00a0Caliphate of C\u00f3rdoba, which for several hundred years\u00a0controlled \u00a0much of the Iberian peninsula. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eu","category-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1120,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions\/1120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenkatraveler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}