¡Por fin, Andalucía!

Now, this is what I really came to Spain to see. Sure, the other parts were nice--Barcelona, with its modernisme architecture, has so much to see and do; San Sebastian has a sandy, golden, perfect beach; the constant flow of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela lend it an atmosphere unlike any other spanish city; Madrid has its art museums--but when I dreamed of Spain it was everything Córdoba has to offer. Moorish architecture, orange and palm trees, flowers blooming in mid-October. Particularly the moorish architecture.

Córdoba is a smallish city, with only a few sights, but they are quite outstanding, I think. (Although perhaps I speak too soon--this is only my first stop in southern Spain. Perhaps greater sights await me--but so much the better!) The Mezquita, in particular, is enchanting. Originally a mosque, when the Christians reconquered the land from the arabs, they created a cathedral inside it. Thankfully, they left most of the original architecture. The building is quite large, and inside it grows a forest of columns. The thin marble trunks support a canopy of red and white striped double arches. There are rows and rows of them, surrounding the entire high altar in the center of the cathedral. The Mihrab still exists on the eastern wall, pointing the direction to Mecca. It is a niche in the wall underneath a horseshoe arch and surrounded in magnificent blue and gold tiles decorated in arabic script. Parts of the building show their years, but this only lends to the charm.

I went to the Mezquita yesterday morning during its hours of free entry between 8:30 and 10--during mass. You could enter through one door to attend mass, or through another and tour the rest of the building as the muted chanting of the mass filled the not-quite-empty, darkened aisles. It was moving to walk beneath all those stiped arches. The pictures, though stunning, don't quite do justice to the experience of moving through them.

I liked it so much that I returned this morning.

I also returned to the gardens of the Alcázar, a palace-fortress. It was free today, and it was a beautiful place to while away a couple of hours, reading in the shade of the orange trees, cooled by pools and fountains, surrounded by the blooming flowers so that it felt more like spring than mid-October.

I could spend more time here. Even my hostel has a beautiful rooftop terrace where I spent a few hours hanging out with some other backpackers last night. But tomorrow it is on to Sevilla, a larger city, perhaps with grander sights.