The 150 mile route took us through olive groves, vineyards and almond orchards in blossom, which are a delicate shade of pink and look stunning. The central plain became more mountainous as we entered Andalucia and drove closer to Cordoba. The hillsides of the sierra north of the city are forested with conifers, with patches of terracotta earth showing through the gaps. Storks, kites and buzzard-like birds soar in the deep blue skies. The roads are still very smooth and have hardly any traffic; a dream drive. We didn’t see another motorhome at all along the way.
Cordoba lies 150 miles south east of Merida, and has a population of 350k, something similar to Bristol / Cardiff. We parked up for two nights at the overnight car park for autocaravanas, a large area which can cater for 50 campers, although there’s only a dozen of us here. It’s right in the centre of the city, next to a park, and took us less than 5 minutes to walk to the historic centre.
We ambled along the cobbled streets of the Jewish Quarter which was very quaint, with tiny houses decorated with geraniums and other plants.
The ancient alleyways led us to the Palace of the Christian Kings which played a significant role during the Spanish Inquisition – where torturous policies were made to convert the Jews and Muslims to Christianity 1478–1834. (We’ve read that the reason for so many legs of cured ham being hung inside and outside people’s homes was to prove that they had converted.)
Despite the history of the palace, the mosaics were splendid and the gardens were blissful.
The Mezquita is the main attraction of Cordoba, built in the 9th century as a mosque, and converted to a cathedral in 1236 when Muslim Córdoba was captured by the Christians during the Reconquista. Cordoba was then the biggest city in Europe with a population of 250,000 (London had less than 20,000). No words can describe the splendour of the Mezquita, and the photos hardly do it justice.
We rounded our stay in Cordoba off with a visit to the Andalucian horse stables and stayed for the show of dressage, flamenco dancing and music. Unfortunately no photos were allowed during the show, these were taken before.
