I came to southern Spain because I wanted to live amongst the remnants of Islamic culture. All of you know that. So I thought about it, and realized that while living in Granada, I would never forgive myself if I didn´t to visit Cordoba, and particuarly the incredibly famous mesquita there (by which I mean mosque....I forget words in English sometimes). So, I tossed the idea around with some of my friends, and discovered one or two who intended to visit Cordoba on Saturday. I bought a bus ticket and went!
Cordoba was wonderful! The group I went with was lots of funs -- three Americans, one frenchman, one Italian, one Austrian, one Brazilian, and two French Muslim girls. I was amazed at how many languages we would shuffle through, rapidly, until everyone understood everything. We usually started in English, would switch to Spanish, and then to French.
I loved the mosque! I had learned in my Islam class that it had originally been built around a Visigoth cathedral, and then had been preserved after the Cordoba Caliphate fell because of how beautiful it was. What I hadn´t realized was that the reconquista-ing catolicas had converted it BACK into a Cathedral. So you walk into a blatant Mosque, but then all around the edges are little chapels, with crosses and virgin marys -- in one of the chapels, all of the famous red and white arches had been repainted with lavish Christian murals. It felt a little weird.
Afterwards we visited some Roman ruins, a fortress, beautiful gardens, and some other city sites, before stopping for lunch at an adorable restauraunt. The waitress was amazing, and a random musician wandered in and serenaded us with traditional Spanish love songs for a while. He was one of the first wandering street musicians I´ve heard here that was actually any good, so I rewarded him with money.
When lunch ended we had plans to go to some more sites, but discovered that they all closed during siesta hours. Thus, instead, we went and sat near a fountain in the shade of a park. That´s when we realized just how freakishly hot it was. Cordoba and Sevilla are known for being the hottest places in Spain...and this was far hotter than the day in Sevilla when I got sick. I took a picture of the street thermometer proclaiming it was 45 degrees -- but I took that picture AFTER we felt like it had cooled down some and were going back to the bus. It could have easily been 46, possibly even 47 at the peak of the day.
For those of you who don´t understand how the Celsius - Farenheit conversion works, allow me to explain. 45 C = 113 F. Enough said. I drank at least 5 entire bottles of water in the space of a couple of hours, and I´m pretty sure I sweated it all out. Oh, and even when we were laying in the shade, there was a "breeze" blowing on by...but the "breeze" felt like someone was blasting you in the face with a blow dryer.
Point being, the morning in Cordoba was great. The afternoon...not so much. I´m debating whether the €35 I spent on food, bus ticket, entrance fees, etc. was entirely worth it. I´m going to rule yes--by a narrow margin. Anyway, around 6, we hopped on the bus and came back to Granada, where it was a glorious 34 (93 F). Utterly exhausted, I took a cold shower, and then collapsed into bed.
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2 comments:
So what was the humidity in Cordoba? I remember living in China Lake, California, just across the mountains from Death Valley. Our dentist was in Death Valley, and we drove through 130 degree heat to get there, in a black car without air conditioning. We had a swamp cooler with a pull chain mounted on a window, but that just put humidity into the car. It was hardly worth it.
In any case, you have my sympathy!
Mom
Funny. My experience was walking to school in Colorado blizzards...uphill both ways...age 9...
(Actually, I am very sympathetic.)
In Florida, I was forced to do P.E. at Pine View. Outside. Running laps. September and June aren't as bad as July and August, but it was still pretty awful. I should mention that there were no shower facilities at Pine View, either. This was a relief to my maidenly modesty, but there were some obvious downsides, as well.
Then there was girl's camp in Florida. Unabated heat for a week, Five-mile hike, July in a swamp, only river water to bathe in, alligators in the river, poison spiders in the tent...altogether a miserable experience.
Your description of cathedral --> mosque --> church was interesting. It sounds like the layers of an archeological dig.
When I visited some castles in Germany, we would hear, "And this tower was built in the 10th century, and then this section was added on in the 12th century, and then it was all renovated in the 16th century, and then in the 19th century, the owner had plumbing and air conditioning installed..."
With Mom, I convey my sincere sympathy.
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