Cordoba
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2007
1
26
51
Trip End
Dec 22, 2007
Córdoba,
Spain
Friday, September 28, 2007
First we visited the castle place that the royal folks lived and wandered for a while through the exquisite gardens. THEY WERE SOOOOO PRETTY! There were lots of plants in bloom and of course a huge statue of Cristobal Colon (Mr Columbus :P ) We climbed to the top of one of the tours to look down on the city, it was very pretty and there was this wetlands looking place that looked a little like oregon :) There is also a much bigger river in C-bod they actually need a bridge for it unlike the river hear where I think the bridge was a waste of material, we drive through bigger puddles in Oregon ::) BUT I digress...
After the huge castle thing I wandered through the tourist area and checkd out a way cool park that was nearby.
Then we went to the ancient mosque which now has the cathedral inside. The mosque is very cool and huge. One cool fact is that all the pilars are different because the took them from Roman ruins, because the muslims came after the romans, so the capiteles (I dnt know what that word is in english) the tops of the pillars are all distinct and the pillars are often of different colors and materials. The Cathedral in the middle was also very interesting.Again it seemed more like a piece of art than a sacred space because it was soooooo incredibly decorated. Each of the seats around the edge for the folks that used to sing the long latin mass with all the parts has a different biblical story or event engraved on it this was so when no one was sitting there the folks who came to mass that couldnt read could look at the seats and learn the bible stories.They also have on the bottom tier of chairs the lives of all the martyrs from the time. Each has a picture of the person engraved int he back with a smaller image of how they were killed...sounds morbid but it was very cool.In comparison to the simplicity of the mosque though it was very visually overwhelming...
Our final stop was the Arabic Baths... It is very important in the islamic faitht o be clean sooothey had thse bath houses all over with a cold, warm,and hot room. This bath is actually still open as a bath... well sort of... it is more like a spa type setting and you have to wear a swim suit because it is now co-ed... It was quite relaxing...there was a huge warm pool where you could sit and soak then a hot pool like a hot tub and then a cold pool where you went after. It really got the blood circulating and I was ready for a nap when we left... I slept 12 hours straight that night :) I think I should open one of these baths in the states:) Oh it also came with a 10 minute masage... which was interesting to say the least. The massage tables were all around the warm pool and lets just say... they like to expose alot of you so they can better massage you which is rather uncomfy when all your class mates are soaking in the pool feet away...:)
This week I have been rather busy studying for tests, I had my first two wed and thurs.Today I find out my grade for one of my classes and then leave on vacation :) We have a 10 day break before the 'real classes' start up again.I will try to update you all on my travels over break as much as humanly possible...aka if I can find cheap internet otherwise I will back date a bunch of entries when I get back!
Much love and have a great week all!! Happy October! Enjoy autumn for me because we dont get one here:)
