Córdoba day 1

November 16, 2021

We had a late night last night. When Emilio showed us to the apartment and gave us the keys, he couldn't take payment because his machine was out of battery power. He promised to return at 8:30, which he did, and we went out for dinner after that. We headed off to Bodegas Campos, highly recommended in the folder of local information provided at the apartment. Not having a reservation, we ate in the tavern with its dated decor (photos of famous people who'd visited covering the walls). The food was decent but not rave-worthy. It would have been possible to try various sherries here but it was just too late for us.

The doors to the Mezquita were closed when we went for our explore. We weren't the only ones wondering what was inside.

The entry to Bodegas Campos features barrels signed by famous people too.

This morning we walked up the street, towards the main shopping area as opposed to the tourist area near the Mezquita, for breakfast. We thought to eat in the little piazza near the apartment, since there are 3 cafés there, but none were open in the morning. Then off to walk around since our Mezquita tickets were for 4 pm.

The thing with staying so close to the Mezquita is that you keep ending up there. Perhaps these old streets were laid out to lead their inhabitants to the place of worship (whenever it happened—first there was a Christian cathedral on the site, then the Moors built a mosque, then after the reconquest, it became a cathedral again—and who knows what Visigoths built on).

You can enter the Patio de lie Naranjos without a ticket so that's what we did.

The main entrance is under the famous bell tower, built on the former minaret. In non-covid times, you can buy a ticket to climb to the top.

The light was beautiful coming through the orange trees so I thought I'd move to the side and change lenses--and it happened.

Nice orange tree but I thought I'd like to zoom in on just a couple of oranges...

I stepped in an uncovered drainage trough and went down hard on my right hand. It was very painful and I was afraid I'd broken something, but decided to give it some time while we walked around a bit more.

Image not found :( — I took this picture afterward to show the scene of the incident. Watch our for those open drains!

One of the former entrances in the west wall of the Mezquita from the outside. Puerto de San Miguel, possibly.

The restored Roman Bridge doesn't look quite so Roman from the deck.

After an hour, we went back to the apartment. I took 3 ibuprofens and we set out to find a medical clinic as it was quite swollen and the pain level hadn't subsided. We never found the clinic but did find Urgencia at the Cruz Roja Española Hospital de Córdoba.

The reception desk was staffed by a very helpful man who spoke English and explained that this was a private hospital. Since we don't have European medical insurance and would have to pay and claim on our travel insurance wherever we went, this was fine by us (and hopefully faster). In total, we were there 90 minutes. During that time, I saw a doctor who determined that an x-ray was needed, paid for my x-ray (70€), got the x-ray, saw the doctor again, and paid for the consultation (60€). I should have taken a photo of the x-ray; it looked to me that the bone inside the ball of my thumb (1st metacarpal) was out of alignment but she assured me nothing was broken and that I should ice it and take paracetemol (acetaminophen) for the pain. I decided to continue with the ibuprofen as well for its anti-inflammatory properties and as I write this 24 hours later, most of the swelling is gone, the pain is only there with pressure, and I have a lovely bruise. (Yeah, I'm behind on this journal but I had a lot of photos to review.) We had been discussing spending a second day in Córdoba since the city appeals to us and this made the decision easy. Another day before getting back on our bikes.

We still managed to have lunch at the café around the corner and get to the Mezquita for our 4 pm admission.

The Mezquita. The reason we came to Córdoba. We, like everyone else entering for the first time, stopped in amazement at the sheer size of it. The inside perimeter is lined with large chapels, there is a larger one on a corner with rows of pews, another even larger in the centre of the building complete with choir and pipe organ, yet these seem tiny in comparison to the open space in the building. The famous columns and striped arches give it an airiness... I'll try to convey all this with a selection of photos but the light inside is dim and tripods aren't allowed (even if I had one with me).

What you see when you first enter the Mezquita

The chapels along the exterior walls seemed to vie with each other for most decadent decoration. The central painting isn't just a painting; the large figures are partial sculptures.

Even the gates keeping the riffraff out of the chapels were decorative.

This large chapel in the back left corner is actually tiny when compared to the size of the building.

Interior of one of the former doorways (I think)

In one walled-off area inside the Mezquita was an exhibit of "Arte y Cofradías". We weren't sure what that meant, but the pieces on display were all made of precious materials and almost all dated from the 1940s and newer. That such things are still being produced surprised me.