Wanderlust Traveler: Cordoba

Cordoba's Mezquita

Day 11 (Friday, April 3rd 2009)

After leaving Seville in the morning I drove about 90 minutes until I reached Cordoba.
Finding my hotel in Cordoba was an absolute nightmare due to the one-way streets. My navigation system kept telling me to turn onto streets that I was unable to, so it made finding the hotel nearly impossible. It felt as though I kept driving in circles, which I probably did for nearly one hour.

Out of utter frustration and because I had run out of all other ideas, I decided to drive entirely out of the old historic core so that I could approach the area that the hotel was supposed to be in from a different direction. This seemed to be the trick as I had no issues finding the hotel. Once I arrived I was so thankful to see that there was still parking available in their underground garage, which cost me 8 Euros.

I found my room at Hotel Maestre to be decent and nothing fancy, but it worked for me. Some reviewers on Trip Advisor had listed the hotel as being slightly worn, but my room appeared to have been freshly painted and nicely updated. The room also included access to wireless internet which was much handier than having to go down to the hotel lobby to use the internet, as had been the case with all of the other places I had stayed at.

Hotel Maestre in Cordoba.

My hotel room at Hotel Maestre in Cordoba.

Hotel Maestre in Cordoba.

Before heading into the city and beginning my sightseeing for the day, I asked the hotel where the nearest shopping center was. After receiving directions I headed over towards the store to buy some food. The store was actually located within a mall which I found to be strange but the store was surprisingly huge, so I was very excited! I purchased some snacks to get me by for a few days and then had a quick lunch within the mall and brought the other food back to my hotel room.

Scenery from my walk to the grocery store in Cordoba.

Grocery store in Cordoba.

My initial impressions of Cordoba were only so-so and definitely not what I had expected. However, my negative reaction was probably unfair due to my recent visit to Seville. I'll be the first to admit that comparing the two cities to one another is completely unfair. While Cordoba is obviously not the large city that Seville is, it seemed to lack the special quality and ambiance that I had found in other places in Spain, such as Ronda or Barcelona. Even Granada (which I didn’t completely love) seemed to have much more character and more architectural interest than Cordoba did. I'll bet that some might consider Cordoba as a diamond in the rough, as many of the buildings were in dire need of help.

Cordoba

My first visit within the city was to the Mezquita (Great Mosque of Cordoba) which is a Roman Catholic Cathedral that was built in the 16th century within the walls of a former mosque that was originally built as a church (confusing, eh?!). It once held the impressive title of being the second-largest mosque in the world. It wasn't until after the Spanish Reconquista that the Mosque was returned to its original use as a church.

Cordoba's Mezquita

The interior of the Mezquita was absolutely amazing with hundreds of columns and arches that just begged to be photographed. I personally thought that the cathedral that was placed within the center of the mosque seemed strangely out of place. However, it was interesting to see how they had integrated the two forms of architecture together. I also enjoyed walking through the welcoming courtyard (Patio de los Naranjos) that was filled with orange trees and was actually free for all to wander. The air here smelled lovely just as Seville had due to all of the blossoms on the orange trees.

Cordoba's Mezquita

After visiting the Mezquita, I took a short walk to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. This is a castle-like fortress that once belonged to the Christian monarchs. While the interior of the Alcazar was not at all impressive, I totally fell in love with the garden. I realized during my visit that I had visited three great garden sights in Andalusia (Granada, Seville, and Cordoba), all of which I absolutely adored. While the garden at the Alcazar in Cordoba was not as polished as the one I had visited two days prior in Seville it was still lovely nonetheless. I really enjoyed walking through the property, enjoying the sounds of water splashing from the fountains and the smell of flowers that wafted through the air.

Cordoba's Alcazar

From the Alcazar, I headed into the Jewish Quarter, where it was recommended by my guidebooks to stroll the neighborhood, enjoying the architecture and ambiance. I’m honestly not quite sure what these guidebooks were referring to as I couldn’t seem to find anything extraordinary after walking through many streets. Maybe I wasn't in quite the right area or maybe it was a lack of interest I had in the city, but whatever it was or wasn’t, I couldn’t seem to find it. I eventually left the neighborhood and headed back to the hotel.

Cordoba's Jewish Quarter

While I had plenty of time available to enjoy other sights in the city, I honestly had no desire to do so. There comes a point in every traveler’s trip when one begins to feel the “travel overload” syndrome creeping into your day. You tend to notice this when things that would normally blow you away (such as the interior of the Mezquita) only seem to somewhat impress you. Or, when you find yourself wandering through some back alleyway feeling board out of your mind, not sure of what exactly it is you are supposed to be enjoying or even looking at. Lastly, it can also be the point in your trip when you start to closely analyze whether or not an entrance fee to a sight you had planned on visiting is “truly” worth the cost and is justifiable; after all, churches start to blur together after just the first few and museums all seem to display the same artwork, don’t they? This is where I was at on day eleven of my trip; I had seen lots of cities and too many attractions and I didn’t care to see anything else except the inside of my hotel room.

Negativity aside however, I did find the Mezquita to be one of the absolute must-see sights in Andalusia. I also really enjoyed the time I spent at Cordoba's Alcazar. While I wouldn't go running back to the city, I do think that most visitors to Spain would find a quick stop in Cordoba to be worthy of their time.

I relaxed the rest of the evening, surfed the internet, and didn’t even go out for dinner (the horror!). Luckily, I had plenty of snacks available from my grocery store excursion earlier that day so I had lots of things to eat. I was hoping that the next day, which involved lots of driving and an eventual stop in Toledo, would prove to be a better day.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Cordoba

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