March 5 - Cordoba

Jacques was feeling a lot better today so off we went to catch the bus to the train station. We were glad we could go since we didn’t know if the tickets were refundable or not. We were on a fast train so there were no stops between Seville and Cordoba, and it only took 45 minutes. Last week when we went to Cadiz there were no check or security before getting on the train, only the conductor who came to check the tickets. Today we had to put our backpacks through the scanner, and we were scanned as well. Also, we had to show our tickets 3 times before getting on the train to Cordoba. What a difference from a few days ago.

We were immediately enchanted by Cordoba. It is a very clean city with wide sidewalks and plenty of green areas in the newer parts of the city. Even the old town looked better kept and cleaner than Seville and Cadiz. It was about a half hour walk from the train station to the cathedral. We walked in a linear park most of the way instead of the sidewalk. The cathedral is huge, and all the old town seems to be centralized around it. We decided to walk the old roman bridge and do a few caches before coming back to visit the inside of the cathedral since there weren’t many people around and it didn’t seem busy.

The bridge reminded me a bit of Charles bridge in Prague but not quite as pretty. There was someone playing a musical instrument at both ends of the bridge. One cache took us to a very narrow alley that you can’t call a street if it is only as wide as a person, but it opened up into a tiny square not much bigger than a standard sized car where there were doors to four appartements. There was a cache was hidden near the fountain. There was even an orange tree growing in that confined space. It’s caches like these that make this hobby worthwhile pursuing. We would never have found this gem without caching.

After roaming around a bit on the other side of the river and old town we decided it was time to buy our tickets to the Mezquita Catedral. It was built in the 700’s. It was a mosque converted to a cathedral in 1236 when Cordoba was conquered by King Ferdinand 111 of Castille as part of the Reconquista. Upon the city’s conquest the mosque was converted to a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There are pillars everywhere and gold in most of the chapels. A lot of orange and yellow colors. There doesn’t seem to be a main alter but there are alters here and there throughout the cathedral some in the middle and some on the sides and a lot of empty spaces and arches everywhere.

After our visit we did a few caches that took us to some of the potted walls. We had stopped at the tourist bureau to ask about the potted patios but they are closed on Tuesdays, so I was happy to find these few walls while caching.

We were back at our apartment at 7 so a much better time than 11 last week. We had a good walk with 17 km done during our sightseeing and caching.

Entrance to the old city.

Many narrow alleyways.

Beautiful entrances with vivid tiles.

Interesting street with small pebble designs. This one spells CORDOBA.

Some of many walls with potted flowers.

Cone shaped hoods called Capirotes worn during Holy Week by penitents.

Original carved planks hung on the walls.

Very narrow alleyway leading to the entrances of four apartments.

Jacques looking for the geocache.

Exterior walls of the Cathedral.

 

Old waterwheel.

Time for a break.

Secondary route to Santiago de Compostela, joining the main route from Seville at Mérida.

Pictures from inside the Cathedral.

Very intricate details of the ceilings.

Pipes for the organ. Notice the pipes pointing outwards near the bottom.

The other half of the pipes.

More colour every day.