Jen and Rebecca Have a Religious Experience

Since we were in Cordoba, we figured we ought to explore the city a bit. Our lodgings are in a modern part of town, so we walked about 30 minutes to find the city center and the old town where the central attraction of Cordoba sits, the Mezquita, a once-mosque that was co-opted by the Christians and converted into a cathedral. In fact, the Christians built a cathedral right in the middle of the mosque. Thankfully we had our trusty Rick Steves guide to tell us all about the history of the Mezquita, its red colored arches, and its 850 columns. (Dude, that’s a lot of columns.)

After properly venerating both the Muslim and Christian sanctuaries enclosed in the Mezquita, we took a walk down the river and saw the Roman bridge and climbed the Triumphal Arch (because as we know, Rebecca doesn’t let any opportunity to climb something pass her by.) Next we thought we’d go see the Alcazar, but the outside proved good enough when we saw how long the line was for a site that Rick didn’t think was worth the effort anyhow. Instead we opted for a tour of the baths of the Caliphate Alcazar and a snack of Serrano ham, cheese and Cokes. It was a pretty good trade. Next, it was time for a tour of the synagogue (last used in 1492 and remarkably tiny by today’s standards) and a tour of the Casa de Sefarad (a museum dedicated to Cordoba’s Jewish heritage). The day’s religious history lesson ended with a trip to the archaeological site of Madinat Al-Zahra on the outskirts of town. (The brown signs got us there without aid of GPS!) It stands in ruins now, but was once a powerful center of Muslim government in Spain. We had fun wandering the ruins and watching other girls get yelled at for crossing into the roped off areas. We were total rule followers!


Ruins!

 After a bit of rest, we wandered partway back into town for dinner, this time more traditional Spanish fare than the Chinese from yesterday. Is it wrong that we liked the patatas bravas so much that we got a second order? Fried potatoes! And we followed up dinner with a final religious experience for the day, our first ice cream (helados) of the trip, even though the ice cream shop lady limited our options to those she hadn’t cleaned up for the night. We’re pretty sure we saw all of the highlights Cordoba had to offer. We will hit the road again for points further south next. 


Mint chocolate chip for both of us.