Happy Sunday to all ! Yesterday was a great day in Cordoba.Its a beautiful city and we were staying here for 2 nights to enjoy the views and scenery both in the day time as well as the evening. The Moors who swarmed across the Straits of Gibraltar chose Cordoba as the capital of Al Andalus,, Islamic Spain. Cordoba flourished in the 10th century while parts of Europe languished in the Dark Ages. It became the centre of learning in sciences. medicines, philosophy, poetry and literature. Some of the famous people of Cordoba in the ancient time are Imam Qurtubi ( the famous Islamic Scholar) Avarroes, Maimonides ( Philosophers of Jewish history ) and a few others. Its supreme monument is La Mezquita , its fabulous mosque. We were told the Mezquita will be closed for 5 hours for a private function of the Bishop of Spain with 5000 students from all over. Our hotel is just 10 minutes away and we started right after breakfast and finished the tour of this amazing ancient monument just before the kids and the crowd started to build up. For a first timer you be amazed at the beautiful architecture in the Mezquita with its red and white arches and marble columns being the symbol of this city which you can see in all books and postcards on the city. The mosque began in 785 by Abd-al Rahman 1 on the site of an earlier Visigoth church which itself probably replaced a Roman temple. It was enlarged many times by during the reign of various islamic rulers the final being Al Mansur. The most dazzling part of the Mezquita is the Mehrab . See my photos in my album Cordoba-( The Mezquita & Medina Az Zahra). After Cordoba fell to the Christian King Ferdinand to Mosque was reconsecrated as a church and along the way they removed 60 original columns which has the most beautiful stucco work. Then we left for Medina Az Zahra which is located about 8 km away from the city on a low lying hills. It is a massive archeological site with excavation works still going on. I visited the whole site the first time but these time around i stood at the first stop near the entrance and took some pictures of the view from the top. I dont have strong lungs to climb the many steps covering the massive area . To see the whole picture you have to go to my albums on my maiden trip to Spain in 2012 We had lunch in a Turkish Kebab house and for the first time they have a real good Pakistani style basmathi rice. I had fried chicken wings which was so good . We had the whole afternoon free and easy . Me and Sharifah Loon went back to Puerto Romano , the old Roman bridge , never had enough of the scenery and in fact its the best place to be at sunset. With so much time i began taking photos of souvenirs in the shop thus created an album Souvenirs of Spain. Will add more photos later on. 5 of the group went for the Flamenco show while me and Sharifah stayed back to rest and do some work . Today will be leaving for the final city, Seville , the capital of Andalucia which is just about 2 hours away. Main programme will be Factory Outlet shopping and the rest of the day free & easy. Will have a proper guided tour tomorrow of this romantic city. Have a great Sunday everyone and will share more ASk-Pipah-Go-Mana-Mana !
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 05:34:32 +0000
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