Seville Spain via Córdoba
The next stop on our Adventure in Spain is Córdoba. It's about 400 KM from Madrid (almost a 4 hour coach/bus ride) but if we take the high speed train we can cut our journey in half. We'll be leaving from Atocha Station on an AVE train. The only compliant from travelers is that they cannot finish the movie before they arrive at their destination.
We meet up with our local guide, Cristobol and he takes us on a walk around the medina (town). Unfortunately, the rain has moved into Spain (forecast is for two days of rain then clearing.)
Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It was a Roman settlement, taken over by the Visigoths, followed by the Muslim conquests in the eighth century and later becoming an imperial city under the Caliphate of Córdoba.
During these Muslim periods, Córdoba was transformed into a world leading center of education and learning, producing notable figures such as Averroes, Ibn Hazm, and Al-Zahrawi, and by the 10th century it had grown to be the largest city in western Europe. It was conquered by the Kingdom of Castile through the Christian Reconquista in 1236.
History is everywhere you walk or look; there is even a musuem to the bull-Museo Municipal Taurino.
Today, Córdoba is still home to many notable pieces of Moorish architecture such as The Mezquita, which was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and is now a Cathedral.
Abd al-Rahman I built the original Mosque in 786-788. In 1523-1606 the transept was built under the orders of Bishop Alonso Manrique.
Many of the structures created by the Moors remain intact.
Like a lot of churches, this one does not lack in it's golden ornaments.
After the Mosque tour we have some free time to roam around and grab some lunch. We choose The Red Horse/El Caballo Rojo
We order eggplant and honey (I have got to try this at home!) and fried shrimp tapas-and they were both delicious.
We finish lunch off with a gelato
We cross the Roman bridge and make our way back to the bus for our long drive to Seville.
But before we check into our hotel we visit the Basilippo Olive Farm.
We get a quick lesson is what it takes to be extra virgin olive oil and how the time of the olive harvest affects the taste of the oil. We are even treated to a tasting that included orange infused oil drizzled over chocolate ice cream. It was delicious!
We arrive at our hotel in Seville-The Novotel Sevilla right next to the futbol stadium.
We quickly freshen up then head out to an included dinner at Asdor Hedonia. The meal was great but WAY too much food. We had a dish that everyone thought was beef and it was actually pork.
Tomorrow we tour Sevilla and the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world.
More Córdoba photos: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Spain-2019/Cordoba/
Nancy Nutile-McMenemy is an Upper Valley freelance photographer and writer who loves to attend concerts and local events in and around Weathersfield and the Upper Valley.
If you have an event you'd like listed please email it to: photosbynanci@comcast.com