Spanish Conquest
[ Part 2 - Cordoba ]
At 9.15am, we boarded the AVE train to Cordoba.. The train's touted to travel at 300kmh.. The journey took less than an hour.. When we got there, we met another taxi driver who new no English at all.. Luckily he knew the place we were going and to our surprise, it was in the middle of town at a famous plaza called Plaza de Las Tendillas.. The rooms were heavenly.. They had huge mirrors fitted to the wardrobes.. Although that's an age-old trick to make the room look bigger, but the sheer size of it made the whole room even more sophisticated :P
First, we went to Torre de Calahorra which housed a museum complete with autoguides explaining about the vital role Cordoba played in bringing together people of all faiths - Muslims, Jews, Christians - in the name of knowledge, thus driving Europe's Renaissance to life.. It's refreshing to see a display that doesn't undermine the influence brought by Islam :)
It was in Cordoba that we first met a group of four Malaysian girls, students from Lancaster and Cardiff :D
We tried out seafood and vegetarian paella, Spanish rice dishes that tasted yummy.. Then afterwards, we found a supermercado (supermarket) called SuperSol, which became our haunt for food throughout our stay in Cordoba :P
Did I tell you that the pillows in Spain - at least in the rooms we stayed in - are of the same width as the bed?
The next day, we visited the Mezquita, which is Spanish for mosque.. It's famous for its high poles supporting hundreds of rainbow-like arches.. I don't know about you, but I've seen so many pictures of them, it's amazing to actually see them in person.. As with most Muslim places of worship, this grand mosque was also converted into a cathedral.. When we went there (free of charge.. hehe), they were chanting some Spanish prayers.. It sort of made the whole surroundings feel a tad more gothic..
( As of time of writing, I found out from a website that a Muslim tried to pray in the Mezquita but got kicked out in the middle of his prayers :/ )
Afterwards, we visited Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos (Palace of the Christian Kings).. The place was beautiful.. It had lots of green gardens with many fountains and tall, well-manicured trees in the shape of giant green lollipops :D
Then, we took a bus to Madinat Al-Zahra.. The place was approximately 8km away from town.. It was the ruins of an old Muslim city purportedly built by Abdul Rahman III for his favourite wife, Al-Zahra.. There were remnants of beautifully carved stones bearing the name of Allah on walls of big reception halls.. Tall ornate arches could also be found along the perimeter of halls and city walls.. We found a brick igloo-shaped furnace in the kitchen area and an ancient toilet (read: hole in ground).. But the saddest part is the mosque, which was totally desecrated.. The walls were totally demolished and all that was left were bricks along the perimeter - aligned towards Mecca - to designate the area that used to be where the mosque was..
During the trip, we met a couple of American girls, a Mauritius granny and an Argentinian lady.. We talked about where we were from, what it was like in our country and shared stories on all our travels so far.. To me, there's something that has to be said about travelling.. It really helps bring even strangers closer together, no matter where you're from :)
You know the taste of black olives usually found on pizzas? Before we went back to bed that night, I found some plump olives which tasted liked jeruk a la pizza :)
Observation : Getting lost in an unknown town - with people you trust, presumably - is a lot more fun because you get to savour sights and sounds you would never have imagined seeing at all :)
More pictures in my Yahoo! Photos page
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NHA at 10:42 PM ::
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