Cordoba trip

Today, I went on a 'field trip' with my whole school to Cordoba (accent mark on the first 'o' but I don't know how to do that on my Mac). We left pretty early (8am) and the bus ride was 2 hours long. We drove though some beautiful mountainous farm lands. Whatever I didn't see on the way there due to sleep I was able to see on the ride home. The main thing we were going to see was the Cordoba cathedral/mosque.

To give you a little background on the history of Cordoba. Cordoba was first a Roman city back a long time ago. After the Romans, the visigoths lived in Cordoba where they built a cathedral on top of the Roman sanctuary. Around the 8th century, the muslims came from Morocco and conquered the southern parts of Spain and set Cordoba as their capital. The muslims at first shared the visigoths cathedral, but then eventually just turned it in to their mosque. Over the next 3-4 centuries, the mosque would be expanded into what was the biggest muslims mosque in the world at one point. Once the christians came to conquer southern Spain, they built a cathedral inside of the mosque as a sign of christianity triumphing over islam. There is a lot more detail that goes in to the history, but those are the basic points about the Cathedral/mosque of cordoba. The cathedral is still used today for christian purposes and services, but the muslims are not allow to practice their beliefs there.

Before we went in, we were given a little radio and headphones. The professor would talk into her microphone and we could all hear her. Apparently they are very strict about making as little noise as possible while in the mosque. It's kind of hard to not look touristy when you got a radio hanging from your neck, ear plugs in, a map in one hand, and your camera in the other but oh well.

Inside, you can see how both christian and islamic art are mixed together to form a beautiful building.

The classic 'take a picture of yourself while walking
and trying to stay with the group'

This is still the original bridge that the romans built and left. It leads straight to the cathedral. You can see the cathedral on the left side of the picture. 

There are over 1000 arches in this mosque.

The columns consist of rich material such

as marble. It is quite a site to see

This is one of catholic shrines that is stored in the cathedral. It is made of  silver and gold. There is so much detail in this shrine but i couldn't get the whole thing is i zoomed in. This is a very important piece of art for their Holy Week celebrations

Inside you can see how both christian art and islamic art are mixed together. This is the
entrance to the christian cathedral that's inside the mosque. The arches on the left with
 the red stripes are muslim, while the bigger columns and ceiling were both built centuries
later by christians.

After viewing the cathedral, we were given a bout 2 hours or so to explore the city. This is when we came upon this awesome castle. We were able to walk everywhere in the castle, including going up on the walls which was pretty sweet. I don't know much about the castle, but I believe it was most likely built by medieval kings...but my guess is as good as yours.

A view of the gardens from on top of the lookout tower of the 'Alcazar castle' in Cordoba. 

A closer look at the gardens. The statues most be of some king of Spain, I'm not quite sure, but i felt like i was walking through a scene of Harry Potter of something when walking through this garden.


PS- Toledo trip is next in a few weeks, so stay tuned!!!!1