Ciudad Real and Cordoba
3 Mar
2026
We
continued on to Cordoba after our visit to the windmills at Consuegra. Where possible, our routing in Google Maps
“avoids motorways”. And on this route, as with that on the way to Consuegra, we
paid a price for doing so. The tarmac on much of the route was well past it’s
used by date – meaning it was like travelling over a washboard. In BF, it
sounded like we were in a kettle drum! Driving right on the outside of the
road, so as to avoid the damage done by vehicles travelling down the centre of
their side of the road improved things a lot – but it was very wearying! So it is good that we are both feeling back
to full health. Ciudad Real was for us,
just a convenient stopping place on the way to Cordoba. We stayed in another
free campervan park over area. We were surprised by the number of vehicles
there – one of which was a campervan conversion of a MAN four-wheel drive army
truck. The conversion was based on a container!
One thing that we have not commented specifically on to date is “roundabouts” … Yes there are a lot of them in Spain (and indeed everywhere else we have travelled in Europe). They make it much easier to deal with intersections, since all you need to know is that the vehicle on the roundabout has right-of-way. So no complicated rules to learn. Other intersections are largely governed by traffic lights of compulsory stop signs. Easy. But back to the roundabouts. They are very often decorated with wonderful creations and often related to the area or town. A few of these have appeared in the blog to date, but in Puertollano, a mostly “former” mining town – there was a model of a winding wheel in the middle of one roundabout – it would have been at least 30m high.
We
have seen a lot of solar farms along the way, but in the area around Puertollano
there must have been hundreds of hectares of these new “farms”. Given this was once a large coal producing
area, one form of energy, has now been replaced with a form of continuous
energy generation with no greenhouse gas side effects.
The mountains of Spain crossed our path again, as we ascended, then descended the Sierras de Cardena y Montoro – and in the process passing vast groves od olive trees. Indeed, for at least 100km of this route, olive trees filled the horizon for as far as on could see. And the village’s – the new colour for the buildings became white, and every high hill seemed to be occupied by a castle or a keep.
Our camp site for Cordoba, the only one open in the area, was in the village of Villafranca, some 40 km out of the city. It was accessible by bus, but not on Sunday’s – the day after we arrived – so Sunday really did become a day of rest – some of which was spent doing washing (leading to a long chat with a woman from the Netherlands, who of course had visited NZ after the Christchurch earthquakes – and had driven around the country with her daughter in one of those small, “graffiti” covered Toyota HiAce vehicles)… and to our neighbours, who arrived at the same time as us – from Germany. It was very nice just to stop, talk, discuss and learn from each other (they too were retired – Gudoun was a mechanical engineer (last job – in charge of gearbox's) and Holger was a physicist who then went on to spend much of his life working for a company that was involved in industrial control systems and services). They too were retired.
But to
visit the city, we decided to move from Villafranca to a Motorhome park over place
just 15minutes walk from the Mezquita that is “the” place to visit in
Cordoba. This was a good plan – as it
meant that we could check out the meeting place for our tour on the following
day etc… but getting to the right parking lot was not without its challenges…
including backing out onto a busy road from an adjacent parking
lot, being harangued in Spanish as to how to get into the right parking lot (with
lots of arm gesticulations). The thing is – that to get to the correct parking
area from where we were mistaken lead by google maps – was another 4 minute
drive via a rather circuitous route. But
eventually we were “in”. This area – “Park Centro Historico” must be a heaving
mass in summer. The “pitches” are just 2.5m wide, and the access path between
the pitches is only about 5m wide.. and there are 100’s of such pitches. It
must be very difficult to both “park” and to get out of your vehicle once
parked! To elucidate – in the picture of the parking area here – 4 vehicles
would be expected to park between us, and the campervan just beyond us. In the background you can see the “Liner” that
arrived after us… 11m long, 4m high, 18 tonnes… but that includes the car in
the boot! They did have some difficulty getting through the entrance as it was
only just as wide as the Liner.
We spent the afternoon walking around the historic centre of the city (11.75km, 16,000 steps, 72m elevation gain). Initial impressions – it’s not a Segovia, or a Toledo, or an Avila, or a Salamanca – which stand out in prominent positions, and are not crowded in by “modern” development. So underwhelmed would describe our initial foray – but maybe we are becoming a little immune to the charm of narrow streets, lined with shops selling tourist items and restaurants? So Cordoba is “different”!
It
does have a nice Roman Bridge, originally built in the early 1st century across
the Guadalquivir river and has been reconstructed at various times. But most of
the present structure dates from reconstruction by the Arabs in the 8th century
– so still something to be considered! A history that goes back to a bit. Evidence
has been found of Neanderthals living here 40,000 or so years BC. Very much
later the Carthaginians arrived, then in 169BC the Romans set up camp… to later be overwhelmed by the Lusitanian’s
(from Portugal) – so Julius Caesar sacked the city in in 45AD. After some time,
the Visigoths conquered it in the late 6th century. After which along came the
Muslims around 710… There was a falling out… and 756 Umayyad Abd ar-Rahman set
up his own “kingdom” with its capital in Cordoba – and that lead to the construction
of the “great Mosque of Cordoba” later expanded three times to the size it is
today (minus the area that is now the Cathedral). Over the next two hundred
years it became a centre for learning … to the point that cataract surgery was
carried out by doctors in the city -that must have been quite challenging for
the patients! But as in may cases all
good things come to an end. In 1009, there was a “debate over” who was the
ruler of the caliphate – and civil war. Ferdinand III entered the city on 29
June 1236, following a siege of several months.
Upon the city's conquest the mosque was converted into a Catholic
cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria), and the church
bells that had been looted by Almanzor and moved to Córdoba by Christian war
prisoners in the late 10th century were returned to Santiago de Compostella. Which
we should appreciate when we get there in May!
Moving
on – various other events occurred over the next 800 years… but on 18 July
1936, the military governor of the province, Colonel Ciriaco Cascajo, launched
the Nationalist coup in the city, bombing the civil government and arresting
the civil governor, Rodríguez de León; these actions ignited the Spanish Civil
War. So Cordoba is “significant”… even
if less than impressive from the “outside” – which includes forests of TV aerials!
Oh… and it is also the hottest place in
Spain – where temperatures can reach the high 40s and even 50C+ in summer. Then there is the "sense" of the city you get from just walking around the streets...
People watching...
Quiet squares...
The headquarters of the Communist Party of Andalusia
A "realisation" of the location to a Temple to Dianna...
Churches around almost every corner.
Pretty street scenes...
Attempts to bring colour into the world.
And at the end of a long day... we decided to let someone else cook!
So, it
is a “Mosque Cathedral”. Surely, Ferdinand’s advisors (archbishop?) made a very
wise decision upon his conquest of the city in deciding that the Mosque need
not be torn down, and instead should be turned into a church through the
sprinkling of some “Holy water”, and prayerful declaration. Though he did insist on a Cathedral being
built in the centre of the Mosque. So we
have this extraordinary combination of Moorish and Renaissance architecture
within the precinct of the original mosque – as well as iconography and the
tombs of those important (or rich enough) to be buried in the Mosque-Cathedral
(both of which violate Muslim requirements for a mosque).
Some points
of interest about this image… which shows part of the original mosque built in 756.
It was constructed in a short period of time, because there was a lot of
building material that could be recycled! While the columns are similar – all the
capitals are different, likewise the column bases.
But…
even before this mosque was built.. there was a Christian Church here… because
recent excavations under the floor of the mosque, found an extensive area of
mosaics, 3m down. As the guide commented… here in Cordoba, if you dig below
your toilet, you will probably find some historical artifact.
Another curious aspect of this mosque is that the mihrab, the semicircular alcove set into the wall to indicate the qibla, which is the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca… faces due south! The reason… the folks who built this mosque used to live in Damascus (that is, before they fell out and headed West)… and in Damascus – Mecca is to the “south”…
Then – upon turning another corner – it is as the guide commented “full Vatican”… Like we noted an earlier extraordinary combination of religious “culture”.
Or…
There
is a monstrance here too – but not quite as spectacular as that in the
Cathedral in Salamanca.
The
visit to the Jewish Quarter provided another view of life in Cordoba before
1492, when the Catholic Monarchs expelled all Jews and Muslims. During the period of Muslim rule in Cordoba, all
three “peoples of the book” – Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in relative
harmony – and this was reflected in the Cordoba Synagogue completed in 1315 in,
with its Mudéjar design (Islamic decoration crafted by Christians). Other points
from this part of our tour… many of the statues of significant people in the
city share the same “face”, but different names… and to get more than just a
“bust” (as does the cataract surgeon), you needed to be regarded as a polymath…
as in the case of Maimonides, a Sephardic Jew considered one of the greatest
scholars of the Torah in medieval times. Born in Cordoba, he became the personal
physician of the Grand Vizier Al-Qadi al-Fadil, and later to Sultan Saladin and
the entire royal family. Hence – he gets
a full statue!
Cordoba is known for it’s beautiful gardens and “patios” which are the inner courtyards that lie behind the walls of the houses you see from the street. These patios are the places of gathering for families – and are generally planted with orange trees and flowers. But in March – nearly all the flowers are plastic… and the oranges on the orange trees are beautiful to see … but bitter to taste – which is why 90% of them are exported to the UK – to make marmalade!.
And for Lydia...(notice the car behind the carriage... this is a city street after all!
Also – about the flowerpots in the walls, that are a feature of Cordoba. Though it seems unbelievable to us – apparently the white plaster has to be painted (replastered?) every year – which is a touch onerous. As a result cracks appear in the plaster – and the solution is – hang a flower pot over the offending crack – which too, is celebrated in a sculpture – with a complete man and boy. Maybe the artist didn’t read the memo about how much of a person is to be included in any “statue”…
The last call on our time was to climb the tower of the
Mezquita… which was advertised as a 200 step climb – but we were short changed –
it was just 150 steps – which Karilyn breezed up… and for which my leg muscles “burned”!
And... in the other direction - toward the city...
It was a pleasure meeting Both of you. Habe a Safe Trip!
ReplyDeleteGudrun & Holger