The last station of our Andalousian trip: Cordoba.

Again the Rio Guadalquivir is part of the city landscape...

And what about this restored Islamic water wheel that once would have raised water to the caliph's palace...

Our main goal in Cordoba, however, was to see the Mezquita: we had seen photos of this moorish-christian temple and found it stunning.  We were going to be rewarded for braving the cold Cordoba weather....(6C at night).

 
 The temple was beyond our expectations.  We both agreed that we never had seen such a jewel of a church.

Cordoba was placed under the control of Abd ar-Rahman I in 756. He was the sole survivor of the Umayad dynasty and proved to be a firm but moderate ruler establishing control over all but the north of Spain.  Following the Islamic invasion, the Muslims proceeded to the demolition of the church of San Vincente (see remains in photo on the left) and proceeded to the construction of what was going to become the most important sanctuary of Western Islam.


 The Mezquita was going to go through further stage of construction and modifications, with each follower of Abd ar-Rahman I adding new aisles and extending its walls. And in 1236, when the Christians (King Ferdinand III called El Santo)  reconquered Spain, the temple was to go through further transformation.  And so, Christian styled chapels, transepts, choirs and chapels were amalgamated into the mosque with an extraordianry result of an exquisite beauty. 

After spending many hours in the Cathedral, we were drawn outside and enjoyed a couple of drinks on a little Plaza close to a restaurant El patio de la Juderia where there were nightly Flamenco shows...that evening, we made our way to that restaurant in order to celebrate our last evening in Cordoba with a wonderful dinner and a very good flamenco presentation.