Day 4: Cordoba to Sevilla (via Carmona) (June 15)
We considered getting to Cordoba's star attraction, La Mezquita, sometime during the 8:30 - 9:30 hour when admission is free (they don't charge during mass) but quickly gave up that idea in the morning, deciding on a more leisurely pace (ie it's hard to get Rachel out of bed and I'd rather let her sleep). We tried to get breakfast at our cute hotel but walked into the room and both knew immediately that we could find better. We walked around the corner and sat down at an outdoor cafe but then saw that we were about to pay more than we had yesterday for our toast, tea, and OJ and were going to be served Minute Maid in a bottle. So, we sprang up before the server came to our table and continued on to the next place where our OJ was fresh-squeezed for less money. After breakfast we packed our bags and walked them to the parking lot, popping back into one of the music stores we had visited yesterday so that Rachel could buy a new harmonica in a different key -- not something specific to Spain, but sold cheaper than on amazon and bought in Spain.
On our way to the Mezquita Cathedral, wandered through the very narrow, whitewashed streets of what we think was the Jewish Quarter. The narrow streets are brilliant in such a climate because they offer total shade. (I forgot to mention how much I appreciate Spain's use of a canopy. In Granada in particular, they have canopies down major streets providing shade for shoppers and pedestrians.) Walking through this totally residential neighborhood of white walls it is fun to peek into open doors where interior beautifully-tiled entries open into wonderfully inviting patios.
The Mezquita, a Catholic church built into the center of a mosque, did not disappoint. This time rather than destroying what was there, the conquerors kept the original structure and simply added a church inside. The Islamic structure dates from the 10th century and is amazingly well preserved. It is so unusual to see the two architectures, representative of the two faiths and their beliefs about their relationships to God, juxtaposed in the same building with the mihrab very near the high altar -- the relatively low roofs of the Muslims, next to the massive ceilings of the Christians, one very ornate, one much more simple, etc. Here is the only place in the world to see the combination of Gothic vaulting on top of Moorish arches.
There is visible evidence as well of a sixth-century church below the mosque allowing modern-day Catholics to see it as return to its original purpose rather than a takeover. I have never thought of the Catholics as being particularly respectful of the existing religions when they invade lands, but when climbing up the steps to the bell tower (where we were admonished for being 5 minutes late to enter) you see that they built it about the existing minaret -- which could have just been the most expedient thing to do but it makes me happy that so much of the old remains. The result is that you can really see the total history of this site.
After enjoying the views from the bell town of Cordoba's rooftop decks and flowering patios, I finally got my first ice cream of the trip on the walk back to the parking lot. We have been on the lookout for my favorite flavor from Italy, ciocococo, but, not finding it, I did my best to recreate it with a half white chocolate, half coconut scoop.
On our drive to Sevilla we passed field after field of sunflowers, blankets of yellow that unfortunately we couldn't capture well on camera. We also passed several hilltop torros. Again, Rachel researched and found us our lunch stop along the way, this time in the hilltop town of Carmona where we parked and walked into the main square to try the local specialty of spinach and chickpeas, grateful that the local specialty was vegetarian!
If I thought driving through the old towns of Granada and Cordoba were tricky, it was nothing compared to Sevilla. The road of our hotel has a warning sign that it is at places 1.7 meters wide - that's 5.5 feet - that means that there are places where people don't just have to get on the side walks to let cars pass, they have to get into doorways! This time I had to pull the car onto a sidewalk so we could drop our bags, but no one offered to drive my car to the lot. I made it through though without scraping our car at all!! (Maybe one little scrap on the passenger side mirror?)
We learned yesterday that the World Cup had begun (hadn't been paying attention in the US since we didn't even make it in). It was so exciting to be in a country that cared and to have someone to root for. We got a recommendation from the hotel of where we could watch and headed over to the huge honeycomb building (more on that later), finding a restaurant below that was projecting the Spain-Portugal game onto the wall. We got there early enough to get a table with a good view of the game. I couldn't understand why the crowd was so quiet when Ronaldo scored his first goal of the night, a penalty kick. I guess I thought everyone thought it was no big deal and it would be an easy win. The Spanish fans in the restaurants were wearing red and the two teams playing were red and white so I just assumed we were routing for red! It wasn't until 20 minutes later when the white team scored that I realized that Spain was in white!! That is how I expected the crowd to react. Ronaldo, while a player for Real Madrid, is actually Portuguese, who knew? I guess everyone but me! It was an exciting 6-goal game - three goals by Ronaldo for the last game tie - but not fun for Spanish fans and not as fun as it would have been had we won.
We sat next to a table with an American family. Twin sisters from Manhattan Beach traveling with one of their sons on his post-college-graduation trip. They were hilarious with lots of advice on investing in income-generating property. Seems to have been a good strategy for them.
The game ended at 10 pm which gave us just in time for us to walk to La Carboneria Bar, an open tented bar that has free flamenco dancing every night at 10:30. We ordered our lemonades and waited for the show but two songs in I was too tired and unimpressed to stay any longer. We'll have to catch an actual flamenco show tomorrow
.
On our way to the Mezquita Cathedral, wandered through the very narrow, whitewashed streets of what we think was the Jewish Quarter. The narrow streets are brilliant in such a climate because they offer total shade. (I forgot to mention how much I appreciate Spain's use of a canopy. In Granada in particular, they have canopies down major streets providing shade for shoppers and pedestrians.) Walking through this totally residential neighborhood of white walls it is fun to peek into open doors where interior beautifully-tiled entries open into wonderfully inviting patios. 
The Mezquita, a Catholic church built into the center of a mosque, did not disappoint. This time rather than destroying what was there, the conquerors kept the original structure and simply added a church inside. The Islamic structure dates from the 10th century and is amazingly well preserved. It is so unusual to see the two architectures, representative of the two faiths and their beliefs about their relationships to God, juxtaposed in the same building with the mihrab very near the high altar -- the relatively low roofs of the Muslims, next to the massive ceilings of the Christians, one very ornate, one much more simple, etc. Here is the only place in the world to see the combination of Gothic vaulting on top of Moorish arches.
There is visible evidence as well of a sixth-century church below the mosque allowing modern-day Catholics to see it as return to its original purpose rather than a takeover. I have never thought of the Catholics as being particularly respectful of the existing religions when they invade lands, but when climbing up the steps to the bell tower (where we were admonished for being 5 minutes late to enter) you see that they built it about the existing minaret -- which could have just been the most expedient thing to do but it makes me happy that so much of the old remains. The result is that you can really see the total history of this site.
After enjoying the views from the bell town of Cordoba's rooftop decks and flowering patios, I finally got my first ice cream of the trip on the walk back to the parking lot. We have been on the lookout for my favorite flavor from Italy, ciocococo, but, not finding it, I did my best to recreate it with a half white chocolate, half coconut scoop.On our drive to Sevilla we passed field after field of sunflowers, blankets of yellow that unfortunately we couldn't capture well on camera. We also passed several hilltop torros. Again, Rachel researched and found us our lunch stop along the way, this time in the hilltop town of Carmona where we parked and walked into the main square to try the local specialty of spinach and chickpeas, grateful that the local specialty was vegetarian!
If I thought driving through the old towns of Granada and Cordoba were tricky, it was nothing compared to Sevilla. The road of our hotel has a warning sign that it is at places 1.7 meters wide - that's 5.5 feet - that means that there are places where people don't just have to get on the side walks to let cars pass, they have to get into doorways! This time I had to pull the car onto a sidewalk so we could drop our bags, but no one offered to drive my car to the lot. I made it through though without scraping our car at all!! (Maybe one little scrap on the passenger side mirror?)
We learned yesterday that the World Cup had begun (hadn't been paying attention in the US since we didn't even make it in). It was so exciting to be in a country that cared and to have someone to root for. We got a recommendation from the hotel of where we could watch and headed over to the huge honeycomb building (more on that later), finding a restaurant below that was projecting the Spain-Portugal game onto the wall. We got there early enough to get a table with a good view of the game. I couldn't understand why the crowd was so quiet when Ronaldo scored his first goal of the night, a penalty kick. I guess I thought everyone thought it was no big deal and it would be an easy win. The Spanish fans in the restaurants were wearing red and the two teams playing were red and white so I just assumed we were routing for red! It wasn't until 20 minutes later when the white team scored that I realized that Spain was in white!! That is how I expected the crowd to react. Ronaldo, while a player for Real Madrid, is actually Portuguese, who knew? I guess everyone but me! It was an exciting 6-goal game - three goals by Ronaldo for the last game tie - but not fun for Spanish fans and not as fun as it would have been had we won.
We sat next to a table with an American family. Twin sisters from Manhattan Beach traveling with one of their sons on his post-college-graduation trip. They were hilarious with lots of advice on investing in income-generating property. Seems to have been a good strategy for them.
The game ended at 10 pm which gave us just in time for us to walk to La Carboneria Bar, an open tented bar that has free flamenco dancing every night at 10:30. We ordered our lemonades and waited for the show but two songs in I was too tired and unimpressed to stay any longer. We'll have to catch an actual flamenco show tomorrow
.
LOL! Yes, dear Liz. Ronaldo is Portuguese. But let's keep this here... I won't tell Aaron you didn't know that. ;o)
ReplyDeleteHa! I too missed the memo about the World Cup happening during our European travels! Since we started in the U.K. we have been deeply invested in those games!
ReplyDelete