Catalogue

I was on too much of a high yesterday. Today was a series of minor disappointments.

1. I got up early to visit the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. The site was a Visigoth fortress then became the base for the Umayyad Caliphate, then for the Abbasid Caliphate then, after Christian forces took Córdoba, Alfonso XI of Castile began building the present structure in 1328. I thought I'd find out more about its important history, but the rooms were empty bar some magnificent Roman mosaics excavated in Plaza de la Corredera about a kilometre away. 

There was nothing about it having once housed the largest library in the west, nothing about King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella welcoming Cristopher Colombus who explained his plans to find a westbound sea route to India, nothing about the innovative watermills that raised water from the river to irrigate the gardens. Could that perhaps be because, had they laid claim to such positives (arguable, in the case of CC), they'd also have had to admit to this building being the the base for the Inquisition for 300 years - yes, three hundred. (Puts into perspective yesterday's alleged golden age of everyone rubbing along just fine.) The rooms built as Arab Baths were labelled as Arab Baths, not as the prison cells and torture chambers they became. An appalling bit of history that needs to be acknowledged.

But I did enjoy, in the formal gardens where I saw the water fireworks two nights ago, watching a whole crowd of gardeners busily planting bedding plants and watering them by moving metal 'dams' in the irrigation channels built into the garden (extra).

2. The Synagogue was moderately interesting but much smaller and much more damaged than I'd expected.

3. I had some time to fill and two feet to rest. I sat at the terrace of a small cafe and was studiously ignored. The waitress wiped another table then came to wipe mine. She didn't speak to me nor even catch my eye. Perhaps I was expected to order at the bar, though, if so, she could have told me. But, hey - if having a coffee is renting a place to sit for a while, as it often is, this turned out very good value. 

4. I ambled off to the Royal Stables to watch the Andalusian horses being put through their paces before tomorrow night's prancing performance with flamenco dancers but it looked mostly like they were training very good horse riders to become even better. It was very pleasant orange-treed space to sit but not exactly what I'd thought I might see. And still no coffee.

5. So, onwards, to the highly recommended Palacio Viana with its 12 flower-filled patios. At least I'm here at the right time of year for flowers: pools, fountains, palms, a huge espaliered lemon, a wisteria past its best (though its best must have been splendid), loads of geraniums and lots of other pretty things I didn't recognise. But there are not twelve patios, there are three. The other nine spaces are a large exterior garden divided into 'rooms' by walls and hedges. It really shouldn't matter but by this stage of the day I was in a nitpicky mood. I'd booked a tour of the 'palace' because I was interested in the relationship of the multiply extended building with the garden spaces but in every room the shutters were firmly closed and we went round in electric light. I was profoundly uninterested in the lacklustre paintings but when I found some embossed and coloured cordovan I wanted to look at in more detail the guide hustled me on. Pah.

6. My last visit of the day had to be better. I took a bus to Medina Azahara - the ruins of a vast, fortified Moorish medieval palace-city built 8km west of Córdoba in 936-940 and abandoned after a civil war only 80 years later. Only 10% of the site has so far been excavated but there is much to see and I was looking forward to the Abdl Rahman III hall which has some points in common with yesterday's mosque. Except that the hall, along with the gardens, is in the bottom half of the site which turned out to be closed.

7. So back to town to try a highly recommended restaurant to mark my last night in Cordoba. There was a strong chance they wouldn't allow me to occupy one of their 12 highly-sought after tables, but I was ready to he persuasive and I'd learnt the Spanish for 'I'm happy to share if anyone wants to teach me Spanish or learn English'. Except the shutters were down. And stayed down for the half hour I stood in the street writing today's text on my phone.


As I walked back to my packing, there were swifts flitting above me chasing invisible insects, the Mezquita bell tower was glowing in the evening light and the air was warm on my bare arms.