This morning, we walked to the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, the castle of the Christian Monarchs. We were astonished to arrive at this site and have it almost to ourselves. Where were the crowds we thought? It was only 9.15am when we arrived so we guessed we had beaten most people to the Alcázar? We needed to get on with our visit before the hordes descended!
The title really only refers to its latest iteration. The site was first occupied by the Romans and the Visigoths and ruins from those eras remain alongside Arabic remains from the time when the site was occupied by the Caliphal Palace. By the time Córdoba was taken by the Christian King, Fernando III in 1236 the Caliphal Palace was in ruins. Alfonso X commenced restoration works that were completed during the reign of Alfonso XI.
Internally the different halls are arranged around courtyards containing flowers, herbs and the ubiquitous sour orange trees. The largest hall, the Hall of the Mosaics contains a series of Roman mosaics that were discovered during restoration works in the Corredera Plaza. Another corridor/room contains an impressive Roman sarcophagus dating to the 3rd century and featuring a relief of the gates to the underworld.
The Alcázar of Córdoba was built with thick defensive walls to serve as both a fortress and a palace and, together with the ruins of the earlier periods, provides an illustration of the development of Códoban architecture through the ages. The fortress is almost rectangular with long walls made of solid blocks of stone featuring four corner towers: the tower of the lions, the main keep, the tower of the Inquisition (yes, the Spanish Inquisition!) and the tower of the doves.
We clambered around the walls and up several of the towers. There may not have been lots of people at the castle but those who were about were doing overtime on the selfies. Oh, my goodness, we’re happy to wait while you take a photo or two, but not 57! I think we managed to take some photos that don’t feature the model wannabe in her strident orange dress??
When we were in one of the towers, possibly the tower of the doves? we were watching a pigeon that had made a nest in an arrow slit. It squeezed in from the narrow end and made its way up to the sticks it had laid in the sloping channel. It parked its rear end over the twigs and was cooing like mad and seemed to be straining like it was going to push out an egg. I’ll never know as Bernie dragged me away before it produced anything??!
From the castle we made our way down into the gardens to the west of the castle. On a gorgeous morning with blue skies and sunshine the gardens were impressive with a formal layout featuring many water features and fountains. The gardens were originally laid out in the 9th century but were abandoned when Abderraman III moved his principal residence from Córdoba. When the Christian Monarchs occupied the site, the gardens were restored and modified with them becoming a favourite place of Isabella the Catholic.
We made our exit from the gardens and walked towards the Rio Guadalquivir and the Roman Bridge. The bridge stretches from below the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba to the Torre del Calahorra. And this was where we encountered the hordes. So many guided groups coming across the bridge into the old part of the city. We couldn’t see any coaches, but we reckon all the people had been brought by coach from their cruise ship(s)?? Ugh, thank goodness that we finished our exploration of the Alcázar before they all arrived!
Now the, ahem, Roman Bridge. Yup, the Romans probably were the first to build a bridge in this location, but it is doubtful that much of their bridge remains today. The current bridge is a medieval reconstruction, but cobbled paving added in the 19th century goes some way to giving the structure a Roman feel? The bridge is still quite picturesque featuring 16 irregular arches with abutment protections. On the other side of the river, we scoped out some vantage points planning to return after dinner tonight to take some night photos of the bridge. Bernie’s research indicates that it is floodlit at night.
While we were on the other side of the river we decided to visit the small Museo Vivo de Al-Andaluz housed in the Torre del Calahorra. The museum provides an audiovisual presentation about Córdoba’s heyday in the 10th century when it was the largest city in Europe and home to three cultures – Christians, Muslims and Jews – living in harmony. From the rooftop we were able to take photos looking back across the river to the mosque-cathedral.
Originally a fortified gate built by the Moors it was extensively restored by King Enrique II of Castile in 1369 to defend the site from attack by his brother Pedro I ‘The Cruel’ from the south. He added a third cylindrical shaped tower to connect the smaller towers each side of the gate resulting in the current appearance of the Torre del Calahorra. In the 18th century the tower was used as a prison and in the 19th century as a girl’s school. Same thing?? In 1931 it was declared a national monument, and both the tower and the bridge underwent extensive restoration in 2007.
Badly in need of some water we walked back to the city and found a café with boards out the front advertising pizzas. Oh, yes, let’s share a margherita pizza. When we went in, we could see customers eating sandwiches. Let’s check out the sandwiches. In the cabinet they had long baguette/ciabatta ‘sandwiches’, ham and cheese croissants and wedges of Spanish omelette. Bernie was going to have a sandwich and I was going to have the omelette. Last minute change before ordering after seeing a toasted ham and cheese sandwich come out of the toaster. We’ll share a sandwich and Bernie will have what we thought was a chorizo sausage roll. Ha, ha, ha!
Our sandwich was sin queso (WITHOUT CHEESE!) and the sausage roll was a chocolate croissant. In our defense those were at the top of the display cabinet, and we couldn’t see the chocolate sprinkles on top when ordering. Hilarious! We went halves in both items so had main course and dessert for lunch. And long cool waters which we needed more than the food. It’s hot today!
We still had a little bit of time to fill before our tickets to the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba would allow us entry at 1.00pm. We wandered along into the surrounding streets checking out ice-cream shops and dodging the crowds. It was too soon after chocolate croissant for ice-cream, but Bernie was keen to call ‘ice-cream o’clock’ before leaving the old city. He said he couldn’t bear to walk back to our apartment and find our ‘local’ ice-cream shop closed again this afternoon!!
We wandered around to the entrance to the Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Tree Courtyard) then headed for the entrance to Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba which is considered to be one of the most exceptional monuments in the world featuring an amalgamation of Islamic and Christian architecture with Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine touches. The Mosque-Cathedral has been a National Monument since 1982 and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.
First was a Visigoth Basilica which later became the site of a several Mosques as the site was developed and enlarged over several phases by the Muslim Caliphates. Following the conquest of Córdoba in 1236 the Aljama was consecrated as a Catholic Church and the main altar was installed in the former skylight of the mosque. In 1489 the Main Chapel was constructed so the building would better reflect the new religion. The main transept was built between 1523 and 1606 but imaginatively combined the Caliphal naves with the transept in the form of lateral naves. The result is an ethereal space that perfectly combines many of the Islamic features with later Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements.
Our tour of the bell tower was not scheduled until 3.00pm so with time to kill we went off looking for those ice-creams. Bernie is disappointed that they have not had cones in multiple sizes in Sevilla and Córdoba. The only way he can have more than one scoop is to resort to a cup of ice-cream and eat it with a little plastic spoon. I’m perfectly happy to have a single scoop in a waffle cone!
We still had time to spare so found a café with comfy looking seats in a shady plaza. Nope, sorry, if you only want a drink, you’ll have to sit on those rickety stools over there in the sun. Fine, you won’t be getting our business then. Seriously it was after lunch and well before dinner wouldn’t they be better to sell two drinks than risk selling nothing at all while their seats remain empty?? We ended up back where we had lunch, what it lacked in atmosphere it made up for in service. No twenty questions to determine if you were a profitable customer or not.
As we walked to the bell tower, we had to laugh at the old bloke sitting leaning against a pillar near the Puerta de Perdón (Door of Forgiveness). He was leaning back, sound asleep with his mouth hanging open. Someone was having an exhausting day of sightseeing!
We joined the group waiting for the 3.00pm climb of the bell tower and just before 3.00pm were were allowed to climb to the first level where we could look onto the roof of the old minaret of Abd al-Rahman III. When the bell tower was added they simply built over the top of the existing minaret. We were briefed on the rules of the climb and then proceeded to the first bell level where we had ten minutes to take photos before climbing to the top of the tower. After ten minutes at the top of the tower looking out over the roof of the mosque-cathedral, the city and the countryside our allotted half an hour was nearly over, and it was time to descend.
We walked back to the apartment and availed ourselves of the pool again after a very warm day of sightseeing. It reached 34°C today which is a bit hotter than I would like it to be. Nothing to be done about it though, except keep our fluids up. If it continues to be hot in Madrid, we might have to start having siestas and taking a rest in the hottest part of the day?
We headed to a restaurant near the river for dinner tonight. La Alqueria was a second restaurant recommended to us at check-in. We shared three tapa dishes and then a pork dish called flamenquin. Pork, ham AND bacon layered, rolled and fried then sliced and served with a cabbage salad and chips. Delicious!
After dinner we crossed to the other side of the river using the Puente de Miraflores a little upriver from the Roman Bridge. We walked along the river to take our sunset photos of the Roman Bridge with the Mosque-Cathedral behind it. Some cloud in the sky tonight resulting in a lovely pink sunset. Doing sunset means a rather late night with the sun not setting until nearly 10.00pm! Luckily, we don’t have an early start tomorrow as our train to Madrid is not until 11.20am.
Steps: 18,391 (11.65kms)