Day Two: Seville - But we're really in Cordoba today

We're using Seville as a hub from which to launch several day trips.  Today we took the train to Cordoba (I don't have an o with an accent on this keyboard, but it's pronounced COR-do-ba).

Back in the 10th century, Cordoba was larger than Paris, than Madrid!  Maybe even the most populous city in the world.  It was a center of education; libraries, medical schools, and universities dotted the city center.  But let's back up a bit.  The Romans conquered Cordoba in 206 BC, and built a giant walled city.  These are a few of the things they left behind and that have been dug up over time (as late as the 1950s).

The Roman Bridge and defense tower.

The wall surrounding the city.  About 400 meters of the foundation is still intact, but much of the wall has been built over by more recent conquerors.  

In the 1950s, a new administrative building was being constructed, when suddenly one day they came across this...a Roman temple...

The columns are replicas, but the capitals (the tops of the columns) are original.  You can see other original elements along the left-hand side wall.  Here's one of the capitals up close.

Who knows what they'll find next!

One of the original bull fighting rings is in Cordoba.  But it's not really a bull fighting ring - it's a four-sided plaza called La Corredea.  

Imagine the ground is sand instead of tiles.  The bulls would enter through the door in the far right corner.  And not just one at a time.  The contestants would be on foot - essentially running with the bulls - around and around until either they or the bulls gave out.

Later this plaza was the location for torturing and burning people alive during the Spanish Inquisition - which nobody expected.

Today, it's a marketplace...well, not today...it's Monday and the market is closed.

But for me, the most interesting thing about Cordoba is it's Mosque.  I mean, it's Cathedral.  Wait, it's both.  There's a giant cathedral build INSIDE the mosque.  And it is stunning.  The mosque, I mean, the cathedral.  Oh, hell...here are the pics.

This was the side entrance used by the sultan.

Inside there are 850 columns.  

 These are fancier because they are closer to the cathedral (more money).

This is the gallery where the sultan would sit.

And here's the niche where the Quran would be placed.

And here's the ceiling.  Man, I love ceilings.  This one is right up there.

So, where's the cathedral?  Well, Isabel and Ferdinand built the first one.  It's small and really just off to the side of the larger one.  Note the Christian "pointed" arch and the rose window...very cathedral-like.

A 180 from that one, and here we go....

Now we're looking more like a cathedral...

and a beautiful one at that.

After we left the Mosque/Cathedral, we took a stroll through the Jewish quarter - where no Jews live anymore.  Remember, all the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 during the reconquest.  While a few came back, there's not a single record of a Jewish person living in Cordoba today.  The stores in the quarter are great, though.  And there are lovely patio homes every where you look.

I just might consider living there.

Tomorrow, Gibraltar.