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More decadent than Morecambe

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We will get lost today and double back on ourselves but, to be honest, who can blame us. Cordoba is a mass of tiny alley ways, with barely existing spaces squeezed in between all the houses. It is glorious and confusing and the confusion is glorious. First we will go to the Salon de Te, which conjures up images of North African sophistication and, maybe just an edge of decadence as opposed to Tea Room, which invokes a wet February in Morecambe, rain lashing down but hope reviving through mugs of steaming brew and a moderately priced bun.  I’m sure Morecambe does decadence too, but of a more homely sort. This halal restaurant has impressed the likes of Evangelos who wrote, four months ago, ‘ We did not only enjoyed the tea but also the food. The chicken with couscous is really nice and also the chicken shawarma. Don’t forget to try the baklava and the chocolates. The staff is really nice. The price of each portion is about 18.5€ (which is a bit expensive for me). ‘ Suha added ‘ We ...
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Diverse diversions

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  We are going for a wander round the heart of Cordoba.  The ways are narrow and stuffed with the most glorious tourist  tat and rubbish sellers. First we go to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos.  If you are going to have a place, make it convenient for the river and the cathedral.  https://cultura.cordoba.es/equipamientos/alcazar-de-los-reyes-cristianos/   A fort was built by the order of Alfonso XI in 1328.  It was over the former gaff of the Umayyad governor, who built over that of the Roman big cheese. It got reworked when gunpowder came along to make things interesting. Ferdinand and Isabella established as a headquarters of the Inquisition and of operations against the remaining Moorish lands in Granada.  Two days ago, Alberto was impressed. ‘ Visited during an evening event with projections and lighting effects in the first half of May. The garden is extremely well-kept and full of various plants and trees, ponds, and fountains. I would ...
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Islands of Catholicism

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  We are going to the Mezquita-Catedral de Cordoba. It is glorious and I don’t think I can do it justice.  I will try.  First, some History. https://mezquita-catedraldecordoba.es/en/ According to tradition - the citation needed of the antiquarian world - a Visigoth church occupied this site, In 785 Abd al-Rahman I ordered the building of a mosque. It was expanded several times over the next few centuries.  A minaret was completed in 958. It had a base measuring 8.5 metres and was 47 metres high. A lot happened. If you want details read this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba In 1236 Cordoba fell to Ferdinand III and the Mosque was converted into a cathedral.  According to Jimenez de Rada, the king took the cathedral bells of Santiago, which had been looted by Al-Mansur, back to Santiago.  Here we get what is stunning about the Mosque.  Here we have a first of pillars. The use of this architecture style, which gifted...
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The changing caliph and an epoch of grandeur

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  Many things have changed in my lifetime.  Understanding of autism were dramatically different between when I started teaching and when it ended. Smugglers have turned from honest citizens fighting ’the man’ to proto-capitalism and Islam has happened. I am trying to think of the images of Islam that percolated through my childhood. Obviously the Crusaders were the good guys but the locals were not really baddies and could be Saladin like chivalrous opponents.   We did nothing but Christianity in RE.  Arabs were Arabs, very rich but not really Islamic. Then the Iranian Revolution happened. All the above may not represent the attempts of teachers and news readers to bring the wider world to my suburban teens but there you are. That Spain had an Islamic past was unknown.  This has changed. Of course people with views have had views.  The Term Reconquest does seem a bit of a stretch to cover 700 years of History, whereas pretending the History of Andalucia was...
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Torc about Roman Settlement

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  We are on the way to Cordoba. It is the 12th city of Spain - 3rd in Andalusia.  Today 325,000 people live there. We are going to go large on the pre-711 events today and enjoy the walk into the modern, industrial southern suburbs but first,a station. The Estacion de Valchillon is now only for cargo, it has no passengers to send anywhere.  Manuel left the note ‘Durum wheat and nile’ - which is confusing.  Ana notes it is a ‘ A hiking route begins which at this time of year allows you to see almond trees .’ Back to Cordoba.  The Neanderthals left traces of their presence. A settlement can be traced to the 8th century BC. The Carthaginians did there thing and the Romans took over in 206BC. Things really got going in 169BC when Consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus founded a newer settlement amidst the existing one.    Marcus Didius Falco turned up here in 73AD in Lindsey Davis turned up in ‘A Dying Light in Corduba.’  Should you wish to see some of the ...
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