Cordoba and Granada

Thursday’s day trip was north to Cordoba. The city, in the heart of a large agricultural valley, is most famous for its cathedral, known as the Mezquita. By now we’ve seen a few cathedrals, both in England and in Spain. But even reading the tour guide books didn’t prepare us for how truly unique this one is.

Cordoba's minaret was also converted into a bell tower.

As in Sevilla, the minaret was converted to a bell tower, and the plaza exterior was preserved. Unlike Sevilla and most other sites in Spain, however, the mosque was not destroyed in order to build the church. Instead, the mosque was incorporated. It surrounds the church.

More than 800 columns support the ceiling in la Mezquita,the mosque/cathedral of Cordoba

The original mosque was huge, having taken the site of a late Roman era church, and expanded three times until it could accommodate up to 40,000 at prayer facing Mecca. Rather than tear it down, the Christians simply put a high altar in the middle and began converting much of the rest of the space to side chapels. The blend of architectural styles, from Roman, to mudejar, to Gothic and Renaissance is breathtaking.

Christian and Muslim symbols and styles mix.

There is an Al Cazar at Cordoba, also. It was used as a palace by Ferdinand and Isabella, but it is sort of disappointing after the grand Al Cazar of Sevilla. The cathedral is what makes Cordoba worth the trip.

A domed ceiling in la Mezquita

Granada, on Friday, was something of a disappointment. With undoubtedly the worst guide we’ve had on these trips, the journey through the countryside was rather dull. Granada itself is gritty and polluted. But above the smog we could clearly see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains. The Alhambra Palace, Granada’s jewel, was certainly worth seeing, but exceeded Sevilla’s Al Cazar only in size, and not in grandeur.

The original Sierra Nevada towers over Granada

The palace was in the midst of a grand restoration in the early 16th century under Carlos I, but when his young king became Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, he was distracted by the Turkish invasion of Austria, rebellion in Holland, and other minor details such as a heretical Augustinian monk from Wittenberg, Germany by the name of Luther. He never made it back home to finish.

The domed ceiling is just one of the wonders of the Alhambra Palace

We had two hours of free time in El Centro, the city center, but the siesta is observed in Granada even more assiduously than in most other parts of Spain. They even shut off some of the water fountains in the plazas in the afternoon! Everything was closed, including the cathedral and the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel, where the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella is located).

We managed to get a couple of cups of the uniquely thick and rich Spanish hot chocolate of which Mary is particularly fond, and spent some time enjoying the warm sunshine before heading back to our Torremolinos hotel.