May in Cordoba Part 1

I have just come back from a very hot weekend in Cordoba, and even though the heat was unbearable I still managed to enjoy some things about it.

When we arrived in Cordoba on the Friday the first thing we noticed was the heat. I know I live in a hot part of the world but even I thought it was too hot, it was 35 degrees and this was at 9p.m. Anyway the drive up to Cordoba had been uneventful but finding our hotel proved to be a challenge as traffic was restricted in the area. After asking a policeman we finally found our way to the hotel.

The Hostal Almanzor is a small but centrally located hotel about 5 mins walk from all the main sites and the best part about it that it was cheap and very clean, to be honest I was expecting much worse for the price we paid, being the busy season in Cordoba. 

The next day we had a booking for the Arab baths which were located on the same street as our hotel. Myself and Nadia had been to one before in Granada so we knew what to expect and I had booked in the big package which includes two massages and the bath time. For those of you that have not gone into an Arab bath before, it is very different than your normal day at the spa but the result is the same.

They are beautiful inside with lots of attention to details and most of it is candle lit but there are also very low lights inside to give you the sense of the sun coming in through holes in the roof. In this one the warm room was the largest one and as usual topped with a dome with stars cut into the roof to let the sunlight in. After my massage I got into the warm pool and floated time away looking up at the stars in the roof and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere created to make you feel when the Moorish Empire was still in power.

Now the main reason to visit Cordoba was to visit the Mosque and also the festival of the Patios. So after the bath we visited the Mosque/Cathedral which is a world heritage site and quite the site to see. As you walk round the outside it gives you a glimpse into a time when Islam was the biggest religion in the South of Spain. Its high walls are a marvel to look at with is many brass doors and its beautiful frescos carved into it.

As you walk into the main entrance you come into a large patio full of orange trees and a small patios. Shame that they were not in bloom, if they were it would have filled the atmosphere in the patio with their sweet smelling scent. Once inside, the first thing you notice is the size of it and also the amount of tourist milling around the place but the best part was that it was nice and cool inside. Inside this huge space there are 856 columns topped by the iconic double arches which are make this place so famous.

On the south side of the building are the most impressive Moorish carvings within the building. This is the area know as the mihrab which is where Muslims would pray to in the direction of Mecca. I was over hearing a nearby tour group and just managed to get a very interesting little fact that the dome above it is built in such a way that the imam could be heard throughout the whole building.