The pedant here with me in Seville has pointed out that yesterday is not the “only day where we are going to repeat anything that we have done before“. That is because today we got the train to Cordoba which we last did in 2018 and are, once again, visiting the mosque cum cathedral.
Quick side note: It’s still difficult to get onto a train in Spain, akin to boarding a plane, but despite that it is still a much more pleasurable experience than anything in the UK.
Mosque cum Cathedral
The mosque cum cathedral is what Córdoba is principally known for and the mosque at any rate is beautiful. The building was converted to a catholic church when the Christians captured Córdoba inserting a gaudy building and shrines inside the vast space. I said this the last time we came too and, unsurprisingly, my feelings about it haven’t changed in the intervening six years.
Further Afield
Walking the streets of Córdoba is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. They are clean and attractive places and most are much too small and narrow for cars that try to squeeze along them. During our walk we came across some Roman ruins, which seemed to be being rebuilt and a very nice plaza. This was filled with tables and chairs for the cafes that lined the edges but all were empty. I wondered whether they ever got enough trade to be profitable given that they were so far from the tourist centre but maybe this is where the locals throng of an evening.
This was all on our way to the final stop of the afternoon the Palacio de Viana. Like the Plaza de la Corredera this was somewhere we hadn’t been before and it turned out to be a real gem.
As the name suggests it is a palace but you don’t go there to visit the rooms. Instead, people go to see the twelve interconnecting patios that weave their way around the outside of the buildings. Some are courtyard style, some grand with water features and complicated floor decorations and others tiny little areas tucked away to one side. All are decorated with plants both in the ground and in pots including some interesting orange trees grown as wall climbers which I had not seen before.
It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and completely devoid of the crowds that filled the interior of the mosque cum cathedral. It was worth the visit for that alone.
