Córdoba

I left the girls lazing in Granada and spent a sunny day in Córdoba on the way back home to Madrid.  After countless visits to Granada and Sevilla over many years, I hadn't realised how much I was missing out on in Córdoba, the third jewel of Andalucía.

I was there during Cruz de Mayo, or the Fiesta de las Cruces (Festival of the Crosses), when churches compete over the best-dressed cross, covered in flowers, and little beer stalls pop up in the street, blaring out flamenco.

The winding streets of the beautiful old town are surrounded by Roman walls.  Terrace bars cluster around the three remaining original gates, where I lounged in the sunshine with a glass of wine and a bowl of salmorejo cordobés, a traditional Cordoban cold tomato soup similar to gazpacho.

The symbol of the city, the Mezquita de Córdoba is an architectural melting-pot of Islamic and Catholic styles.

Built in the eight century as a gigantic mosque, it was converted into a cathedral nearly 500 years later after the Catholic monarchy recaptured the city.

The original mosque is an enormous forest of pillars and striped archways.  In the sixteenth century the Catholics tore out the centre of the building and added an ornate nave; the contrast between the two styles is stunning.

Inside the walls of the Mezquita is the calm and shady Patio de los Naranjos (Courtyard of the Orange Trees), where tourists huddle under the trees to escape the hot sun.

On the meander back to the train station, I dropped in to Mercado Victoria, a gastro market not unlike the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, where you can pick and choose from the fresh food stalls and take your goodies outside to the sun terrace.  The market's set in a restored 19th century wrought-iron pavilion, once used for exhibitions.

After a few glasses of cava and a stroll up the tree-lined Paseo de la Victoria, I was on a train and back in Madrid in a couple of hours.

http://www.mezquitadecordoba.org/en/

http://www.mercadovictoria.com/