Andalucia, Part 3, Córdoba

Hmm... ok so I was going to work in reverse chronological order but I've decided that Amsterdam is going to be a photo essay. I'm just waiting to get the other half of the photos from Thor, and I'll be all set. So, for now... I'm just going to wrap up my trip with my parents. Unfortunately, as time passes both my memory and my desire to write in detail fade significantly, but I'll do the best I can. So. Ok, reverse chronological order: Córdoba. We only spent one night in Córdoba, but as it was a fairly small town, we were able to see most of the major sights in the day and a half we were there. So the major major sight to see in Córdoba is the Mezquita. Mezquita simply translates to mosque in English, but "The Mezquita" in Córdoba is one that has a particularly interesting history, and some pretty sweet architecture to boot. I'll start with a cool night shot of one of the walls:

And now I'll tell you a little story. Once upon a time, in about the 7th century, the the Visigoths (a Germanic tribe) were roving about Europe, doing their Visigoth thing and being Christian/Catholic. During that time, the built a church in Córdoba, where, incidentally, a lot of Sephardi Jews were living as well (more on that later). It was a nice church, fairly modest, but it did it's thing. Then, beginning in 784 CE, Abd ar-Rahman I, at that time the emir of Córdoba, began construction on an elaborate mosque, right over the site of the old church. Construction lasted two centuries and through the rule of three different emirs. In 987 the Mezquita was finally finished, and it looked like this:

So the Moors had a pretty awesome place of worship for a while, but then in the 13th century, along came the Reconquest of Spain, i.e. the return to Christianity. Specifically, in 1236, King Ferdinand III "rededicated" the mosque to Christianity, although he didn't touch it. A little while later, however, subsequent kings made some modifications to the mosque--namely, sticking a cathedral inside. The end result is something like:

A pretty crazy history, for sure. And cool to see, as well. The other main thing we were interested in seeing was the synagogue, because like I said, there used to be a large Sephardic Jew population there. (In case you didn't know, Sephardi Jews refer to the Jews that historically lived in Spain, as opposed to the Ashkenazi Jews, who are of Germanic descent and eventually occupied not only Germany but much of Eastern Europe as well.) As a matter of fact, apparently there were once something like 11 synagogues in Andalucia, and 18 total in Spain, but the only one remaining in Andalucia is the one in Córdoba, with two more in Toledo, and Europe's oldest synagogue in Barcelona. (Don't quote me on those numbers but they're close.) So, after the Mezquita, we went to the synagogue. Talk about anti-climactic. All of the cathedrals and mosques and palaces all over Spain are so impressive, and the synagogues are so... just plain and functional. A difference in culture, I guess. So here are some shots of that:


So those were the two major sights in Córdoba. There was also a fair going on that week, which meant we saw ladies walking around in traditional Andalucian dresses:

Hmm... so yeah. Not too much else. Up next, Part 2b, Sevilla, the not driving part. Almost caught up!