Andalucia! Third Stop: Cordoba

OK, so our third stop was Cordoba. We all had to rush off the bus because there wasn’t really an official place to Stop. The city was showing itself to be beautiful from the first steps towards are hotel. Near are hotel was the Mesquita which is this massive mosque that had been transformed into a cathedral when the Christians took over. When the king saw what they had done, even though he had authorized it, he criticized them by saying something like, what you have done here could have been done by anyone anywhere but in so doing you have destroyed something unique to the world. And it was. It was a mosque with nearly 1000 columns and really ornate and elaborate carvings. Seriously, great. Here are some shots from the inside. In the middle of the Mosque they tore down the walls and built a Cathedral. There were still a lot of the old Mosque parts that had survived. There was one tablet that I am pretty sure is upside down. On the back had old western letters that were upside down and on the front had some Middle Eastern writing that looked upside down to me. I’m no expert but I wouldn’t put it past Spanish ignorance to make that mistake. I just can’t imagine where there would be a tablet with western on one side upside down compared to the Middle Eastern writing on the other. Here is my 1000th picture taken on my new camera. Thanks for the wonderful Christmas present Dad and Mom. Here is a creepy Catholic carving. Paige was our official tour guide for the Mesquita. More pics from inside. (Professor Shumway looked like Indiana Jones.) So, so many people have passed by with their oily hands over the many years that it has polished the columns. Hence the black and shiny middle.While we were here the cathedral was under construction. Apparently Voldemort was the cousin a Catholic saint. Outside we found a cool fountain that we all took a drink out of. In that courtyard there was a really impressive Orange orchard within the walls.We wandered around the city and found a cool photo op . Aren’t I always just so thoughtful? Sarah decided to become a genie. We walked by the Alcazar but it was free the next day so we decided to come back the next day. It was pretty though. We decided this cat had a pretty good life. Notice the awesome pad he’s got. Also notice the Hitler stash he’s got and the leg of lamb on his side. Leg of Laamb! (So I remember that line, but what is it off of) Here is a neat Roman Bridge. We were all wearing brown and sitting next to each other so we wanted a picture. Cool sunset pictures near the bridge: From there we saw more Roman ruins. More wandering led us to the city’s “” plaza mayor where a bunch of scroungey teens were getting their grove on to a violin and guitar. They were all probably stoners and I felt like it was a cut right out of the 70’s. I decided to join them in a crazy dance. I was oddly reminded of a neo rain dance. While we were just chilling their afterwards this guy came up to us and started chatting. He was from Oregon and had made a lot of money in the fishing industry and was now 40 and traveling 10 countries of the world for 3 or 4 months and just having fun. After a few words he asked us if we knew that Jack Johnson was coming that night to perform in that plaza. We were all shocked and then he was all, “No, I was asking you if you had heard because someone told me and they seemed sure but I don’t know.” We asked around and it was all a lie but it did get us really excited. After a bit we left and wandered the city in search of nifty gardens. We found another neat plaza. I found a tie that was 100 Euros. We took a neat picture in the northern park of the city. The next morning we went running again and here are a few pictures. Later that morning we went on another walk and found the famous flower street. We finally made it back to the Alcazar and the gardens were amazing. This was also a monument to Columbus. There were a lot of these places that were related to Columbus asking Ferdinand and Isabella for permission to go to America. I’m not sure which one is really important. The important thing is that I climbed up and took some cool pictures. We explored the castle a bit afterward and it was neat but were a bit rushed because we wanted to see the famous Jewish synagogue. I found a cool guy that is supposedly lucky if you get a picture touching his foot. The synagogue was pretty neat. And thus ended Cordoba.