We took a day trip from Seville to Cordoba which was a short 40 minute train ride. We left the train station and headed for Cordoba´s main attraction Mesquita - an amazing combination of an Islamic Mosque and Catholic church combined together.
The Mezquita decided to build a magnificant mosque on the site of an 8th century Visigothic Christian church. The mosque is one of the great creations of Islamic architecture with its shimmering golden mosaics and rows of red-and-white striped double arches disappearing into infinity. When the Christian´s conquered Cordoba from the Moors they choose to build a cathedral inside the huge mosque. It was inspiring to see how the Mesquita could be both a beautiful mosque and cathedral. Its an example of how Islam and Catholisism can seemingly co-exist together in harmony.
Afterwards we strolled around and discovered it was siesta time and all the other sights of interest were closed for several more hours. While sitting on a bench, trying to decide what to do next, we saw several ladies dressed in traditional flamenco dresses walk down the street. We figured, hey...that´s strange let´s fallow them to see what´s going on. After a 30 minute stroll of secretly following the flamenco dancers, we discovered a huge Fiera de (fair of) Cordoba. There were tons of huge tents filled with ladies and children in flamenco dresses, and men on horses wearing old styled suits and hats. Plus there was a carnival and rides. We had cotten candy, a delicious chocolate stuffed churro, and we rode the huge, whirling ride - the "Flash Fashion" that took us over 100ft in the air, flipping us head over heels. In one tent, Lee-Anne took a picture of a poster and this Spanish gentleman came over and took down the posters to give to her. So we had a couple beers to hang out and chat a little bit with them.
After a few hours at the Fair, we headed to the bus station and snuck a quick peak into the Castle of the Christian Monarchs where the Spanish Inquisition operated out of from 1490 to 1821. They also had some pretty gardens and fountains.
At 19:20, we made the train back to Seville with a big smiles on our faces.
-Russ and Lee-Anne
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