Trip to Spain Day 4

One of the old cathedrial-mosque doors now closed

Trying to get out of the old city can prove to be a little complicated.  Jake went to get the van and it took him an hour to get back.  He said that because of where he exited the parking garage he had to travel all over the city’s one-way street in order to get back to our hotel.  And after he got back there was still one stop we had to make before we could leave – a wooden, made in Italy, absolutely adorable cat clock where the tail is the pendulum and the eyes go back and forth.  The toy store was at the end of our street and we couldn’t help but fall in love with it.  Here’s to hoping the kids (OK, Jordan) doesn’t break it.

This was the day we headed over to Cordoba which was the seat of the Caliphate back in the 8^th century clear till the 13^th century.  Like in Sevilla, there is a big cathedral there which used to be a mosque, but I will get to that later.  When we first arrived in Cordoba we setteled into our hotel, which, again, was more a 1 star hostel.  But it had everything we needed.  One room had 3 twin beds, 2 of which we shoved together to accommodate all the boys sleeping together, along with dad in the other twin.  The girls shared the other room which had a queen bed, a twin, and then the baby bed.  Again, it was what we needed and nothing more.  And that is how you do a family vacation on a strict budget.

All 6 kiddos posing in the hotel

The girls' room (+ baby)

The boys' room

There is a lot to see in Cordoba and we had a lot of fun.  Jake surprised us all by first hiring a horse-drawn carriage to take us around the city.  The girls had been asking, but it is kind of expensive, so I kept telling them no.  It was a great way to see the different parts of the city and hear a little about the history.  There is still a large Islamic influence in the city.  They even have a hammam, which is a version of a spa.  We went all through the different old sections of the area and you can tell the Arab section by the architecture.  The tile patterns are the same as they are today, and the doors are all the old, decorative kind.  It was interesting to see how the Arab architecture hasn’t changed in 2000 years.

In front of the carriage

Kids on the carriage

The oldest Catholic church in Cordoba

Beautiful molding

Look closely at the door - its Arab, but the molding has been turned Christian

Just neat

Old, Roman columns

These are the Christmas lights all over the city

OK, this is not a picture of wires, but rather the braces of the balcony

Window molding again

Church tower

Bye, bye horsie.  Thanks for the ride.

The next thing we went to see was the cathedral.  Unlike the Seville Cathedral, this one didn’t try to change much of the structure.  There are arches all through the building with columns every 10-12 feet.  The area where the Imam or Caliph would conduct prayers is still there, as well as some of the Arabic script.  You can even see the room which was dedicated solely to the Caliph.  It is unreachable, however.  The chapels they built within are gorgeous.  And the door frames were awe inspiring.  One really neat thing they have on display there are some of the hand-written books from the bible dating back to the 13^th century.  Amazing.

Outside there was a bridge with an arch at one end and an Arab-type building on the other that we walked down to take pictures.  It is just so fun to be there and see all the history.  But after that the kids had reached their limit, so we headed back to the hotel. 

Gotta love the old architecture turned bank

The orange grove courtyard

One of the main gates into the orchard

Same gate a little closer

Samantha and Rachel playing in the fountain in the orchard

Joseph playing in the fountain

Daddy and Jordan playing in the fountain

One of the doors into the cathedral

The intricate design of an Arab door

The archways in the cathedral.  The red and white are done by alternating brick and stone

Inside the cathedral

The old clock mechanism from the 1700s

Some artifacts from the days of the mosque

Hand-written books from the New Testament from the 1400s

These are stones that were found that have the names of the workers of the mosque on them (in Arabic)

Looking up one of the domes

Turn this on its side and it is a gold-leafed processional piece still carried today

A statue of one of the marters killed by the Moors at the time of conquest back in year 780 aprox.

I love the ceilings!

This surrounds the area where the Caliph lead the prayers

Overheard an English speaking tour guide say this room was for the caliph, originally, but upon later research, I may have heard tomb, not room.  Still not 100% sure

Some of the stain-glass (picture taken by Rachel)

More ceilings

Main chapel

More ceilings

The choir

Entering in the gate to the bridge

The bridge

All of us on the bridge

The building on the opposite side of the bridge

Samantha

The front of the gate

We rested and the little ones took a nap before heading out for dinner.  We found a McDonalds not too far and it had a great play area.  It wasn’t just a play area, it was a little sports center with a basketball hoop, and obstacle course with a timer, and then the climbing area.  The kids had a great time racing each other and themselves.  It was a great way to burn off some of the hamburgers they had just eaten.  

The climbing structure (can you spot Samantha?)

After dinner we headed back to the old part of the city to walk around.  Jake wanted to park where we had parked before, but there were no open spots, so we just kept driving.  Pretty soon we found ourselves on the main strip through town and they still had the Christmas market up along with some carnival rides.  BINGO!  We found a parking garage and headed over.  It was a good thing Jake had all the money.  I could have gone crazy buying stuff!  The kids and I rode a little dragon roller-coaster ride which was a lot of fun.  They even gave us each a punching-balloon thing.  The kids were boppin’ it everywhere they went.  After seeing the Christmas market we went to the plaza to see if we could find an ice cream shop.  We didn’t, but we found a lot more rides, some street acts, and a lot of people.  It was a fun little walk and the perfect way to end the evening.

Riding the mini roller caoster