Córdoba was one of several day trips we planned to do from Malaga. As there were certain days the cathedral/mosque was closed, we made sure we went early in the week. Our hotel in Malaga was convenient for us to make the short train ride to Córdoba which was only an hour away.
Córdoba was an Iberian and Roman city in ancient times, in the Middle Ages it became the capital of an Islamic caliphate. From the train station, we walked about an hour to the old town which was so nice to do. The old town was so quaint with its Arab and Roman influenced architecture. As there was a lot of shade walking in the narrow streets, we spent quite a lot of time walking around before we arrived at the mosque.
Street of Flowers
Apparently, Córdoba was the most populous city in the world during the late 10th century and early 11th century as well as the intellectual center of Europe. It’s now a moderately sized city and walking around the city it’s hard to tell that it contained a large number of people.
We finally ended up at the Cathedral which was formerly the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The building is also known by the inhabitants of Córdoba as the Mezquita-Catedral (Mosque–Cathedral) and is today a World Heritage Site.
Mosque-Cathedral
The building and site was originally a pagan temple before become Christian church. Once the Moors invaded this part of Spain the site was converted into a mosque with a new building on the site. A cathedral was later inserted into the centre of the mosque after the Spanish Reconquista.
Mosque-Cathedral
The interior of the mosque was very impressive with the arcaded hall containing 856 columns. The columns were made of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite and utilized pieces of the Roman temple which previously occupied the site previously and other destroyed Roman buildings.
As we walked through the mosque, we found the cathedral that the Spanish Reconquista has inserted into the centre. It was definitely much brighter than the rest of the building and equally impressive as the arcaded hall.
Salon de Te
After roaming through the mosque/cathedral and its gardens, we left and made our way back to a restaurant that we had passed by. Salon de Te is a cool little place that could have gone unnoticed. It wasn’t until I peeked into the entranceway to see the gorgeous courtyard that was surround by the resident and restaurant.
Commercial Area
Once we finished our huge lunch of hummus, kebabs, and tea, we took a leisurely stroll through the commercial area back to the train station. It was this time that we were feeling the 40 degree heat even in the shade. Since it was so hot, we took twice as long to head back to the train station as we were popping into air-conditioned stores to cool down.
