Cordoba’s Mosque & Cathedral (Part I)

We decided to take a day trip to Cordoba in 2018, I wanted to take my time to thoroughly plan the trip down to the last detail because there was so much to see and take in from an historical perspective.  I started about 4 months in advance and researched all I could about the city, sites to see, things to do, and not to do, as well as the history. 

This was no small task in that there has been so much written about this wonderful city - don’t forget that it was a Roman settlement on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, taken over by the Visigoths, followed by the Muslim conquests in the eighth century and later becoming the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba.  

During these Muslim periods, Córdoba was transformed into a world leading center of education and learning, producing figures such as Averroes, Ibn Hazm, and Al-Zahrawi, and by the 10th century it had grown to be the second-largest city in Europe. Following the Christian conquest in 1236, it became part of the Crown of Castile.  A remarkable transformation from an agrarian community on the river to a major cultural and educational center of Europe. 

There were some obvious sites that we wanted to see, places on our must-see list, and a few others that were not of particular interest to the general public, but that interested me alone.  I dove into the research with great enthusiasm.  We selected the last week of April and the first two weeks of May for our target vacation.  We flew into Madrid and took the bullet train (RENFE) to Sevilla from there.   

We arrived at Barajas airport in Madrid at 9:00 AM, tired, exhausted and sore from the uncomfortable seats in economy, but we pushed on to the Atocha train station for our 2 hour and 45-minute trip to Sevilla.  Fortunately, I booked us first class so we were able to recline and sleep until we arrived. 

Sevilla would be our home point for travels to other parts of Andalucía.  We spent our first day wandering around the Jewish Quarter (Barrio Santa Cruz) and walked the shadowed streets until we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset.  Dinner and a very short walk to our hotel and we were asleep within minutes. 

The next morning, we drove the nearly 2-hour drive to Cordoba.  Don’t be surprised by the throngs of tourists, they are everywhere, you can’t avoid them!  After a while, they faded into the background and we walked from the parking garage to the Grand Mosque.   

It was a sunny day outside, warm, but dry.  We walked into the courtyard full of orange trees and then into the church.  We let our eyes adjust to the darkness, and then the magic of the mosque (officially, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption) revealed itself to us.  Awe inspiring to say the very least.

Cordoba’s Grand Mosque

You can spend the entire day there and not see everything that the Mosque has to offer.  I advise that you take your time, there are many treasures to uncover and see, stare at each one as they will reveal their beauty to you the longer you look at them!  

As you can see from the picture above, it is a massive site and I will get into more detail in a future blog.