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We had some time to explore southern Spain from Granada. We took a bus from Granada to Cordoba and then on to Sevilla. Southern Spain is hot this time of year with temperatures between 90-100F daily. It is also beautiful with fields of olive trees, vineyards, citrus trees, windmills and solar panels between these major cities. Both cities are charming with narrow winding roads, classic Spanish style buildings with gorgeous flower filled courtyards and bars/restaurants on every corner.
Cordoba was the capital of Al-Andalus and was the biggest city in western Europe during the 900s. In 1236 it was taken over by the Catholics. It is now a World Heritage listed medieval city with the Mezquita as the main tourist attraction.Construction of the Mezquita began in 785. Touring the Mezquita is kinda weird. It feels like being inside a cavernous mosque with a cathedral plopped awkwardly in the middle of it. It was the second largest mosque (only just smaller than the one in Mecca). It was made into a cathedral in 1236. The capilla mayor (main altar) is full of gilded bling. The coro (choir) has intricately carved wood stalls. The Patio de los Naranjos was left largely unchanged from the days of a mosque. See pictures below for more detail.
Seville is a larger city, famous for "the birth of flamenco" and bullfighting. And of course another gigantic cathedral. We took a tour of Plaza de Torros de la real maestranza (the bullring) at which time we learned they have novice bullfights on Thursday nights during the summer. Guess who wanted to go? (hint: not me). We also toured the Cathedral and Giralda. This is another mosque-turned-cathedral after the Catholics took over in 1248. It is reportedly the largest gothic cathedral in the world. The Giralda is a tower connected to the cathedral with spectacular views from the top. The other major attraction is the Alcazar. It is a royal palace that was originally a Moorish fort. It is still used by the royal family today.
We spent 3 days walking around the city and saw the Plaza de Espana (a huge semi-circular shaped plaza created for the 1929 expo held here, with tile maps of each province), the Parque Santa Maria (a giant park where Brian talked to the ducks), and Triana (a neighborhood across the river known for tile work). We also went to see a flamenco performance, which I loved.
To add to our cultural experience we attended the bull fight on Thursday night. I had heard all the gory descriptions from my parents and Brian and Shannon so I had an idea of what I was in for. Because this is the "off season" for bull fighting, this event was at 10pm and everyone was dressed very casually. The tickets were also much cheaper. It seemed that the bull fighters were in fact novice. At one point it was clear that the final "stab" was not performed effectively as the bull continued to stagger around. Three men chased it around and were repeatedly stabbing the bull in the head to speed up it's death (I know this because Brian was narrating loudly as I turned my head the other way). I have been told that bull fighting is an important sport in some cultures. I cannot understand why. We left after 45 minutes.
Shannon (my sister-in-law) has done quite a lot of reading on the topic. Please see her blog for an interesting description. http://www.dobleve.org/blog/2009/05/12/%c2%a1toro-%c2%a1toro-%c2%a1toro/
Tags: Travel Blogs