22 Hours in Córdoba
Zagan the motorhome’s up against the Rio Guadalquivir, in an empty free car park opposite the hill-top town of Montoro, about 45km east of Córdoba (N38.030491, W4.380006). We’ve planted ourselves here, after a 22 hours stopover in Córdoba, as we’ve decided to cut north through Spain to Madrid, and this was the nearest nice-looking park4night.com place on the way. It’s still warm here (our thermometer is showing 26°C in the van) despite the fact the sun’s gone on a city break for a couple of days. The weather forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow, and then full sun and outside temperatures up to 24°C in the following days (which will mean maybe 30°C inside unless we seek out some shade). Nope, I’m not complaining.
Fast and free roads flowed through the olive plantations north, gradually losing ascendancy just to the south of Cordoba as fields once more held sway. We’d opted to stay in the city’s main motorhome aire, about 1km from the Mezquita, the town’s main attraction for us. A couple of closed roads and a weird ‘around the houses’ detour brought us into the parking area which was a bit odd (it was a car park so the entrance area, roads and spaces were all too small) but felt safe (CCTV plus lots of fellow curtain-twitching mohoers!). For €18 per 24 hours and within an easy walk (or hobble in Ju’s case) of the old town, it was practically perfect, thanks Cordoba (N37.87406, W4.78725)!
Cordoba was once the capital of al-Andalus, Muslim Spain, and the largest city in Europe. The city at the time was a leading light in science, according to Wikipedia, making: “major advances in trigonometry (Geber), astronomy (Arzachel), surgery (Abulcasis), pharmacology (Avenzoar),[9] agronomy (Ibn Bassal and Abū l-Khayr al-Ishbīlī)”. The Mezquita, a huge Muslim-Mosque-Turned-Catholic-cathedral is, like the incredible Alhambra in Granada, an architectural and artistic testament to the power and beauty of the people of that time. Having spent a few months travelling in Morocco and Tunisia, it now seems strange to me these descendants of the Moors, lovely people that they are, aren’t lording it over all of Europe? Quite what tricks history has played are beyond me.
A few weeks ago we’d been let into the secret (to us) that you can visit the Mezquita for free from 8:30am to 9:30am during the week. Being so close to the city we could easily have done that, but we both knew we were only in Cordoba to see this particular sight, so we opted to spend the €10 each to get in and take our time. In the end we spent about two and a half hours in there, and felt we’d made the right choice.
This is the first mosque we’ve been into by the way. Those in North Africa are generally off-limits to non-Muslims although the one in Kairouan, Tunisia allowed us into the outer courtyard from where we could peek into the carpet-covered prayer room (and Cordoba is far more relaxing to be in than Kairouan!).
I’m planning on making no attempt whatsoever to explain the Mezquita to you in this blog post. Others have done it better before me, just have a read of Wikipedia for example. The end result of history is now a monumental, walled-in mosque with a cathedral landed by parachute smack bang in the middle. Although the Spanish king of the time allowed the cathedral to be built in such a unique place, he did so sight-unseen and was a tad miffed when he saw the end result: a very odd mis-mash of cultures and styles. Being a bit less kingy, my personal opinion counts for nothing, but I thought the combination worked, in the sense it’s created something even more unique than ever existed before and since. This is the first mosque we’ve been into by the way. Those in North Africa are generally off-limits to non-Muslims although the one in Kairouan, Tunisia allowed us into the outer courtyard from where we could peek into the carpet-covered prayer room.
Can I explain this any better? Nope. Partly that’s down to my misfiring word-smithery, but mainly it’s down to the fact places like this have to be sensed with your own eyeballs, to sniff the insense as it were, to feel the cool air and stone and hear the hushed chatter and camera clicks of fellow gawkers. That’s the only way to get even the faintest grasp on the depths of history surrounding places like the Mezquita. We enjoyed it in there, even with hundreds of other tourists it’s so huge we hardly noticed most of them.
Once we’d done snapping a thousand photos, we headed out and around the old Jewish area of town to just to the north. It’s now a wandering maze of white walls, flower pots, tapas and flamenco bars and tat shops, with small lorries dropping off bottled gas for the locals, posters advertising Andalusian horse shows and the occasional moped zipping past. Ju’s leg is still restricting her movement, and the various pills she’s popping aren’t making her feel great, so after a quick look we headed back to Zagan. Not without stopping at a churrería kiosk though, which sell churros, a sort of straight stick of deep-fried donut dipped in thick dark chocolate. Sadly for Ju they only flog the stuff as a pick-me-up in the morning, and he’d only cold bits left, drat it!
And with that, we’re off up north! The plan’s to head up to Madrid, via a few places on the way yet to be worked out, then north-east to San Sebastian and out past the northern edge of the Pyrenees into France ready for a Chunnel trip on 28 March. Three weeks or so and we’ll be home, best stop hammering away at this keyboard and get out there!
Cheers, Jay
P.S. A few more photos of the Mezquita, from our collection of 6500 images (just kidding, we only took 165…):
28 March? Hmm. Well still be here until mid-April and have our fingers crossed and a French translation of our driving licences. And a green card for the insurance:-(( Hope the healing is going well and not making life too awkward.
Good luck Robina, hopefully all will be fine, but it sounds like you’re well prepared. Cheers, Jay
Glad Ju is on the mend…I too had a great experience in Spain last year when I had a foot injury. I was seen within minutes and no money changed hands.
We also loved Cordoba and one day I would like to visit the courtyard festival which takes place every May.
Tomorrow we head to England, after just 10 days in France. There apparently is talk of a months extension to the 29th March date, but I fail to see what that will achieve! We have met many motor homers this last trip who say that nothing will change re freedom of travelling and they are intending to stay in Spain/France as long as they want to! I don’t share their optimism, but I suspect the Schengen noose won’t tighten immediately. We will see…
Hi Lorraine, we have the same experience and my guess is Schengen will, assuming the 90/180 restriction comes into force, be roundly ignored right up until the first reports of people being caught hit the news and the motorhome forums. Then we’ll find out who’s willing to walk the walk and really risk being caught/fined/banned from Schengen access? Interesting times. Enjoy Blighty, we’re about ready to see our homeland again, especially the inside of a chippy… Cheers, Jay
Hi Jay,
I spent almost a week on a campsite outside Cordoba in 1974 waiting for my overland-trip-to-Morocco’s minibus to be fixed, but, being penniless, I didn’t go into the city so knew nothing of the Mezquita which looks fascinating! Maybe it’ll be on a future itinerary.
Carol and I are heading to France par Le Shuttle on the 23rd so we’ll probably pass you and Ju going in the opposite direction somewhere south of Paris. We have 2 routes planned, depending on weather. Route A is down the Western coast to the Loire Valley, then along to Beaune where we might just catch up with a gorgeous wine we first tasted 40 years ago and cannot forget, Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc, then back up North via Troyes. Route B takes us down to the deep south if the weather is not to our liking, aiming for Montpelier, Perpignan, then some friends in the Dordogne and back up to Beaune, for guess what? This will be our first “big trip” outside the UK – only 2 weeks – but we have dug deep into your online resources and those of the wider MH community so we feel we are well (ish) prepared for what may come. Thank you.
Hope Ju’s injuries heal quickly. Who’dathought that running would be such a dangerous pastime? I’ll stick to motorbikes!
Cheers
Ken
I’m buying Ju racing leathers for her next run Ken! Have a great tour – you’ll have a cracking time. The best advice I can give is to ignore all pressure, take your time driving, parking and leaving your pitch all will be bob on! Au revoir mon ami! Jay