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| The clock rings a flamenco tune
We stopped at the Templo Romano (1st century A.D.), where Rafa pointed out that only three of the columns are totally original-- the two at the left front and the one at the right front. They were easy to distinguish, as they did not have a nice flat top. Cordoba was an important city for the Romans, and over 20,000 settled there by the 1st century A.D.
Templo Romano-- the hole was an early drainage system
The street signs are mostly in tiles and have the original name underneath. Often the earlier names referred to trades. Sanchez Pena was Calle Odreros, which referred to the leather tradespeople. Leather making was very big in Cordoba and there are still excellent leather goods found in the city. 
We walked to Plaza del Potro, which had a number of historic sites. There are two museums located there. One is the Museo de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Museum) and the other is the Museo de Julio Romero de Torres (1874-1930), a famous Cordoban artist known for his portraits of beautiful women from Cordoba. The latter museum was founded in 1931, a year after Julio Romero's death. He donated his works to the museum and wanted free access to the public. It is housed in the home where he was born. Cordobans can get in for free. Romero's picture was on the 100 pesetas note.
There was also a plaque on the wall, indicating that the great Spanish writer Cervantes had written about this square in his books.
 Rafa noted that Raphael/Rafael is a very common name in Cordoba. Apparently, the Archangel Raphael protected the city from the greatest impact of the Black Plague. There are about 40 statutes to Saint Raphael in Cordoba and there is a public holiday in his honour on October 24 each year. 
San Raphael
   As we continued our walk, I kept deeking into buildings to take pictures of the courtyards- lots of hidden gems in Cordoba.  Rafa told us about flower competitions in the city that take place in May. There is one competition for flowers in pots on walls in courtyards ( neighbours get together and organize). There is another competition for balconies-- the plantings in the picture below won first prize last year. The flowers will be blooming soon.  We passed a sign noting that Cordoba is going to be the European City of Culture in 2016- that explains some of the construction work underway.  We stopped at a leather store located in a beautiful street called Calleja de las Flores. Cordoba leather is known for being very soft.   The street had many flower pots on its walls. But the photo op was the view of the Bell Tower of the Mezquita-Catedral.   We spent some time outside the Mezquita- Catedral. At one time, it was the second largest Mosque next to Mecca and is now the third largest, after Mecca and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1984. Building started in 785 and extended in the two centuries that followed. Charles V, who also built at the Alhambra, commissioned the Cathedral inside the Mosque before he had even seen the Mosque. Our guide said that when Charles finally saw the Mosque, he was sorry he had built inside it. However, Abd Al-Rahman I had purchased a former Visigoth chapel of which there are still some remains, before building the Mosque. Thus the site of the Mezquita-Catedral is very unique as it contains elements of Cordoba's history.   Rafa pointed out a starfish and other shells in the building materials.  There is an Orange Tree street near the Mezquita-Catedral with beautiful oranges. They were being collected by municipal workers as we walked by. Apparently, these oranges are very bitter and can't be eaten.   We walked to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos ( Castle of the Christian Monarchs). The building was a former Roman fortress and then became the residence of Christian Monarchs. It was where the conquest of Granada was plotted and Columbus's voyages to America planned.  The Royal Stables are located next to the Alcazar. This is where Philip II was responsible for the breeding of the Spanish Pure Breed horse. We went into the Jewish Quarter and visited the statue of Maimonides, which we had seen already. Rafa pointed out a tile in front of the statue in the shape of Spain, that read Sefarad in Hebrew (the Hebrew word for Spain).  Our last stop was the statue of Seneca, the great Roman philosopher (4 B.C. to 65 A.D.) Seneca was also an advisor to the emperor Nero. He was forced to commit suicide for alleged complicity in a plot to assassinate Nero. He was born in Cordoba and died in Rome.  The statue of Seneca was located near the Puerta de Almodovar, part of the old Roman gate that led to the Juderia.  Rafa was a great guide, very knowledgeable and very proud of his city. After the tour, which ended at about 1:30, we went to the Mercado to pick up some food for dinner. We dropped the food off at the apartment and headed down to the River to find a place for a late lunch.  Cordoba is located on the largest river in Andalucia called the Rio Guadalquivir. There were a number of restaurants at the River's edge. They were all packed at 3:00 p.m. We luckily only waited a few minutes for a table at Taberna del Rio. We had two soups- the local salmorejo (tomatoes, bread, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, with smalls pieces of ham and egg on top) and mazamorra, a cold almond soup with pear jam and smoked tuna shavings). We know the ingredients because they were listed on the menu. I will definitely look for recipes for both these soups as they are excellent. We also shared a plate of the local specialty- fried eggplant with honey. This plate also came with goat cheese. While the soups were excellent, we preferred the eggplant we had at dinner on Thursday.     We walked along the River until we came to the massive Puerta del Puente (Gate of the Bridge). This is very near the Mezquita-Catedral. It was originally part of the city walls. In the 16th century Hernan Ruiz III remodelled it giving it the monumental appearance of a triumphal arch. We then walked over the River on the Puente Romano (Roman bridge) to the other side to the Torre de Calahorra. There are always lots of people crossing the bridge. The light was lovely.   We sat on a bench at the other side for a while and then headed back.   We went next to the Casa de Sefarad (Sephardic House), a private museum that is also a culture space. It is located in a house that had been owned by Jews and is close to the ancient Synagogue. It has eight themed rooms with some artifacts and a lots of written information about the history of Jews in Cordoba. There was a Life Cycle room; a Synagogue room outlining the history and discovery of the Cordoba synagogue build in 1315; an Inquisition room with information about many prominent Jews from Cordoba who either were killed, converted, or fled. There was also a room with pictures of the forgotten Jewish woman of Al-Andalus (the Arabic name for Andalucia); and a room about Jewish festivals.     We bought a CD of Sephardic music performed on ancient instruments by musicians from Cordoba. The woman working in the gift shop told us the flautist was her music teacher at her high school. She played us a few tracks. It will be a nice memento. It was around 6:00 p.m. when we left the museum. We headed back to Plaza de las Tendillas and then wandered around some pedestrian streets where lots of people were out walking prior to dinner. We stopped at a bakery and then headed back to the apartment for a fish meal, prepared by Alano. We checked Alano's fitbit and we had walked over 20,000 steps for the day. We are really enjoying the history and beauty of the city. |
Saturday, 14 March 2015
20,000 Steps in Cordoba
Friday March 13 started out foggy but by noon the sun had broken through and the temperature rose to about 21C. We headed out to our rendez-vous spot at Plaza de lasTendillas at 10:30 a.m. to take the Free Tour Cordoba. We had an excellent tour guide, Raphael (Rafa), and our tour lasted almost three hours. There were 14 people on the tour, mostly from England, with a couple of Americans and a woman from Poland. A Spanish-speaking tour with about the same number of people headed out at the same time. Rafa gave us a brief history of Cordoba in the square and at exactly 11:00 a.m. the clock rang out a flamenco tune. Very cool. Rafa also told us that Espana came from a Phoenician word meaning rabbit, so Spain is the "land of the rabbits".
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Once again, excellent information and wonderful photos.
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