Consummate Coroba

The train trip from Barcelona to Cordoba was interesting. We caught the ‘fast’ train that travels at 300 kms an hour. It was a smooth and easy ride. 710 kms in under 5 hours through rapidly changing countryside. What we can see from the train tells the story of a long occupied country. Mile after mile of gnarly ancient olive trees standing patiently in still rows confined by mile after mile of long standing dry stone fences that have been gathered from the tilled earth over centuries.

Our journey took us from the lush green populated Barcelona hinterland, through the empty stony desert to the verdant green arising from generations of irrigated plains, past craggy mountain ranges and ruined castles to the ancient city of Cordoba.

Although our sole purpose for visiting Cordoba was the international guitar festival, for us, with no guitar and no English, it is a fizzer. Jim and Clare went to one concert which was a great experience but limited by our lack of language.  We all went to a flamenco concert which we loved. The rhythms and the colour and the dancing had us tap, tap, tapping into the tapas bar and we got home around 2am. This is a city built for my friend Margaret. People rise late; have a siesta in the hottest part of the afternoon and then party till the small hours.

Eating in the city is a great adventure. We have not yet mastered enough Spanish to place an order without some amazing results. The only exception is ham, there is lots of ham, although once we did get peach marmalade!

We are staying in the Hotel Maestre in Cordoba (www.hotelmaestre.com ). It is an hotel and a hostel with apartments and dormitories all built around a series of cool internal courtyards. Cordoba is a place I love. It is very ancient city built along the Guadalquivir River with narrow roads, prolific courtyards and water every where

 The Romans arrived here in 206BC and there is plenty to remind you of their power in the world at that time. There is a large Roman Bridge that spans the river and we walked across delighting in the sound of rapidly running water as it was a hot day. Even the pigeons were taking refuge in the

shade.

We later found out the temperature!

Along the river is a great meeting place and Jim and I enjoyed watching a long conversation take place between Clare with no Spanish and a lovely old man and his dog Pedro  neither of whom spoke English.

 Downstream there is a Roman water wheel that was used to pump water to the townspeople and gardens of the Castle of Alcazar until Queen Isabel irritated by the squeal of the wheel ordered it be dismantled.  

The archaeological museum has been designated as a world heritage site. In the basement is the excavated remains of a roman theatre built in the 1^st century. You can walk along a see through walkway over the excavation and every few metres are modern technological explanations and audiovisual reconstructions so that at the end of the experience you really get an understanding of the enormity of what you are seeing.

The city is dominated by the wonderful Mezquita (Arabic for a place to prostrate oneself) Mosque with its shifting history.  Begun in 785 and continually modified over the next 200 years and then revamped by the Christians in the 1200s to include within the mosque the Cordoba Cathedral with its amazing Gothic cupola soaring up into the roof of the cathedral/mosque. The architecture is awesome and we spent hours wandering about while Clare waited for us by the pool in the orange grove courtyard.

There were so many museums (art, craft, and torture) to visit and we didn’t get to any of them. Despite the heat I could spend a long time just being here. Apart from the pleasure of just walking and discovering amazing views around every corner, one of the other major attractions that Cordoba has is the castle Alcazar of the Christian monarchs. It was built at the beginning of the 14^th century on the site of a previous palace where Julius Caesar had once lived for a short while in 65BC after his defeat of Pompey. It was in this castle that Christopher Columbus showed his plans for his adventure to America to the king and queen. It was also the seat of the holy inquisition from 1482 till 1821. It is now a museum with amazing gardens and we spent many hours during the day, coming back at 10pm to see the wonderful light show.

Definitely a place to spend some time if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in Cordoba. .

The train trip from Barcelona to Cordoba was interesting. We caught the ‘fast’ train that travels at 300 kms an hour. It was a smooth and easy ride. 710 kms in under 5 hours through rapidly changing countryside. What we can see from the train tells the story of a long occupied country. Mile after mile of gnarly ancient olive trees standing patiently in still rows confined by mile after mile of long standing dry stone fences that have been gathered from the tilled earth over centuries.

Our journey took us from the lush green populated Barcelona hinterland, through the empty stony desert to the verdant green arising from generations of irrigated plains, past craggy mountain ranges and ruined castles to the ancient city of Cordoba.

Although our sole purpose for visiting Cordoba was the international guitar festival, for us, with no guitar and no English, it is a fizzer. Jim and Clare went to one concert which was a great experience but limited by our lack of language.  We all went to a flamenco concert which we loved. The rhythms and the colour and the dancing had us tap, tap, tapping into the tapas bar and we got home around 2am. This is a city built for my friend Margaret. People rise late; have a siesta in the hottest part of the afternoon and then party till the small hours.

Eating in the city is a great adventure. We have not yet mastered enough Spanish to place an order without some amazing results. The only exception is ham, although once we did get peach marmalade!

We are staying in the Hotel Maestre in Cordoba (www.hotelmaestre.com ). It is an hotel and a hostel with apartments and dormitories all built around a series of cool internal courtyards. Cordoba is a place I love. It is very ancient city built along the Guadalquivir River with narrow roads, prolific courtyards and water every where

 The Romans arrived here in 206BC and there is plenty to remind you of their power in the world at that time. There is a large Roman Bridge that spans the river and we walked across delighting in the sound of rapidly running water as it was a hot day. Even the pigeons were taking refuge in the shade.

We later found out the temperature!

Along the river is a great meeting place and Jim and I enjoyed watching a long conversation take place between Clare with no Spanish and a lovely old man and his dog Pedro  neither of whom spoke English.

 Downstream there is a Roman water wheel that was used to pump water to the townspeople and gardens of the Castle of Alcazar until Queen Isabel irritated by the squeal of the wheel ordered it be dismantled.  

The archaeological museum has been designated as a world heritage site. In the basement is the excavated remains of a roman theatre built in the 1^st century. You can walk along a see through walkway over the excavation and every few metres are modern technological explanations and audiovisual reconstructions so that at the end of the experience you really get an understanding of the enormity of what you are seeing.

The city is dominated by the wonderful Mezquita (Arabic for a place to prostrate oneself) Mosque with its shifting history.  Begun in 785 and continually modified over the next 200 years and then revamped by the Christians in the 1200s to include within the mosque the Cordoba Cathedral with its amazing Gothic cupola soaring up into the roof of the cathedral/mosque. The architecture is awesome and we spent hours wandering about while Clare waited for us by the pool in the orange grove courtyard.

There were so many museums (art, craft, and torture) to visit and we didn’t get to any of them. Despite the heat I could spend a long time just being here. Apart from the pleasure of just walking and discovering amazing views around every corner, one of the other major attractions that Cordoba has is the castle Alcazar of the Christian monarchs. It was built at the beginning of the 14^th century on the site of a previous palace where Julius Caesar had once lived for a short while in 65BC after his defeat of Pompey. It was in this castle that Christopher Columbus showed his plans for his adventure to America to the king and queen. It was also the seat of the holy inquisition from 1482 till 1821. It is now a museum with amazing gardens and we spent many hours during the day, coming back at 10pm to see the wonderful light show.

Definitely a place to spend some time if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in Cordoba. .