Córdoba, Lejana y Sola

There is a poem I read once, probably in a Spanish literature class. I don’t remember studying it much and I never had to memorize it, but for some reason the whole thing managed to stick itself in my head and reappear two years later. It appeared a lot this weekend, as the theme of the poem deals with the location of our adventure on Saturday, the small city of Córdoba, situated 1.5 hours east by train.

"Córdoba, lejana y sola… Aunque sepa los caminos, yo nunca llegaré a Córdoba." [Córdoba, far-off and alone… Even though I know the roads, I never will arrive to Córdoba]

Granted, there aren’t too many similarities, mainly because the poem describes a guy riding on a horse at night, knowing that he will die before he reaches Córdoba. We managed to survive. Most of our group went because our wonderful program was paying our expenses. We began by visiting the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (Castle of the Christian Kings), featuring towers, big gathering rooms decorated with mosaics, Arab baths, and beautiful gardens.

"La muerte me está mirando, desde las torres de Córdoba." [Death is looking at me, from the towers of Córdoba]

Because Columbus is said to have visited Ferdinand and Isabella there, there is a statue of him pleading for permission and money to explore the world. (I tried it too but it worked better for Columbus.)

From there we moved on to see the Mezquita, or mosque. The thing I love about Córdoba and southern Spain is that all the ancient cultures are mixed together; when one group conquered another one, they kept the old buildings but converted them to their own religion. Hence the mosque that has a cathedral in the middle of it. The Mezquita is famous for its red-and-white striped stone arches, and the dim lighting inside adds to the mystery.

"Jaca negra, luna grande, y aceitunas en mi alformba…" [Black pony, large moon, and olives in my saddlebags…]

Even though we did not eat olives in the moonlight, we did enjoy packed sandwiches on the steps of the Mezquita before splitting up. Some went to the museum, some went to the river, and I roped two girls into coming with me to explore sights I had found on the Internet, i.e. the Judería, or the area where the Jews used to live. To complete the mix of cultures theme, we visited the synagogue, which is only one of three left in Spain after the Jews were expulsed when the Catholics conquered the Muslims in 1492. I was kind of proud of myself for talking the guy at the synagogue into letting us in for free, because students are the same as residents, right? We also saw a restored traditional Andalusian house that was absolutely gorgeous, and explored all the patios with flowers that Córdoba is evidently famous for.
I’ve reordered my list of favorite cities- now I think Córdoba is the most beautiful city in Europe (Sevilla is pretty but it’s also very big-city-ish). And I should think so… I took 309 pictures there, and the reason I didn’t post this sooner was because I have about 30 favorites I wanted to put up. So my sum total since January comes to 1764 fotos, plus a few hundred more I have from other people. My beloved camera is starting to bite the dust but I’m going for records here!

Hasta luego, Lindsay