Córdoba, a city where three major faiths have left their mark

Córdoba is a city in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It was an important city during Roman times and in the Middle Ages, was a major Islamic centre. Its best known, and most impressive monument from its time under Muslim rule, is La Mezquita, an enormous mosque dating from 784 A.D, built on the site of the ancient Visigoth church of San Vicente. The mosque underwent consecutive extensions over later centuries, resulting in an interior that resembles a labyrinth of beautiful columns with double arcades and horseshoe arches.

In 1236, Córdoba fell to Christian forces, and the mosque became an important place of Christian worship. In 1523, a cathedral was constructed inside the building, and a century later, a Renaissance-style nave was added, with a Baroque altarpiece and mahogany choir stalls. Today Córdoba reflects its Roman past and the coexistence of Christian, Islamic and Jewish cultures throughout its history. Its historic old town centre is a World Heritage site, full of little streets, inviting squares, flower-filled courtyards and charming restaurants where locals and visitors can enjoy the local cuisine.

The opportunity to visit Córdoba arose during our cruise stop-over in the southern Spanish city of Malaga, and I’d placed a tick besides this particular excursion, several weeks before we sailed. Other excursions were available, including one to the equally interesting city of Granada, which was closer to Malaga, and thus a shorter coach ride away. A day or two into the cruise, I made a visit to the Shore Excursions office on Queen Anne to check what was still available. Delighted at finding that the all-day excursion to Rome was still available I booked a place alongside the aforementioned tour to Córdoba.

This was prior to noticing that the time schedule for this particular excursion was incredibly tight – always read the small print, although I’m pretty certain that the ship’s scheduled departure time from Malaga had been brought forward to 16:30. This “everyone back onboard” time was also the time the Córdoba tour was scheduled to arrive back at Queen Anne.  A day or so later I queried this with the Shore Excursions team, and they assured me that the tour would get participants back to the boat on time, and if there was a delay then the ship would wait for us.

That latter point is important, and it is one good reason why it is always worth booking official excursions sanctioned by the cruise line, rather than booking an independent one. There have been plenty tales of woe from people who have done the latter, and have then been left stranded, on the quayside of a foreign port, because after being late for the agreed sailing time, the ship departed without them.

As it happened on the Córdoba trip, we arrived back 10 -15 minutes behind Queen Anne’s scheduled departure time, but the ship waited for us all to get back onboard. On the drive back to Malaga, someone from the boat was in regular touch with our tour guide to check we were proceeding on time, as there is always the possibility of mechanical breakdown, a blockage or pile up on the motorway, or some other unforeseen event which could, potentially have delayed us. Thankfully no such mishaps occurred, and the 40 or so of us on the Córdoba excursion enjoyed a leisurely walking tour of this fascinating and historic World Heritage site, which concluded with lunch at a local restaurant.

It was an early start which meant a hurried breakfast, and then departing the ship virtually as soon as it had docked, tied up and immigration formalities completed. We had a pleasant and knowledgeable guide called Christina, who kept a tight rein on us, because the last thing anybody wants on these trips is for someone to get separated from the rest of the party and then going missing. The drive to Córdoba took the best part of two hours, and as we set off through the streets of Malaga, our guide pointed out various places of interest. It’s a shame we weren’t spending two days in the city, as from what we saw, Malaga seemed pleasant, well-laid out and certainly worthy of further exploration.

The road climbed steeply, as we drove through the mountains that separate the coastal region from the high, inland plains so, like the rest of my travelling companions, I settled down to enjoy the journey. It’s quite a few years since I journeyed into the interior of Spain, and since the dark days of Franco’s dictatorship, the Spanish government have obviously spent a lot of money improving the country’s infrastructure. As we descended on the other side of the mountain range, we passed through numerous olive groves, many of them ancient, but some consisting of a new “dwarf” variety, planted in neat rows and capable of being harvested by machine. (The guide told us this btw, so it isn’t me showing off!)

We eventually arrived in Córdoba just before 11am, and our coach driver dropped us off just outside the walls of the old city. The next time we would see the coach would be three and a half hours later, when it picked us up, outside the aforementioned restaurant. The We followed our guide through he ancient gate and into heart of what had once been the Muslim part of the city. Córdoba also boasted a thriving Jewish community, and the first couple of buildings we visited, were former synagogues. It was the later Christian rulers who expelled the Jewish population from this region of Spain.

The synagogues were set amongst an area of narrow, and tightly packed streets, and as we were one of many tour groups that day, this Medina or Souk area soon became quite unpleasantly overcrowded. Fortunately, our guide led us out of this congested part of the city, and towards Córdoba’s main attraction, the Great Mosque. We were allowed an all too brief, 15-minute break before meeting back up at the yellow post-box, which wasn’t sufficient time to do, or buy anything, given the hordes of visitors, but before entering the mosque we were able to admire the sumptuous and well-laid out gardens surrounding this impressive building.

Today the Great Mosque is also home to a large cathedral, but before reaching the Mezquita-Cathedral,  we passed through a labyrinth of ornate columns with double arcades and horseshoe-shaped  brick arches. These seemed to go on forever, and it was here that the attention of many of the group began to wane. Our guide seemed undeterred by their lack of interest, such was her enthusiasm and knowledge, but I stuck quite close to her, and remained not just in range of the blue-tooth headsets, but also visually.

The contrast when we eventually entered the Catholic cathedral section, was quite striking, especially as this area is crowned by a large and rather ornate, baroque dome. The guide again, enthused quite prolifically about this area of the building and, without wishing to sound churlish, I too had heard sufficient by this time. Eventually even Christina had exhausted her repertoire, so after escorting us out of the Great Mosque and checking we were all present and correct, led us down to the Guadalquivir River, and across the impressive stone-built bridge, that dates back to Roman times.

Once on the opposite bank, it was a short walk to a local restaurant, where a pre-booked lunch was awaiting us. We enjoyed a typically English-style salad of lettuce, tomato, grated carrot, sweetcorn, and hard-boiled eggs, with some olives thrown in as a local touch. An excellent paella then followed, loaded with plenty of shrimps, mussels plus the odd prawn. There was wine as well, along with plenty of bottled water, but I took it easy with my liquid intake, knowing full well that the coach wouldn’t have time to stop on the way back for a “comfort break.” 

Fortunately, the traffic was relatively light on the return journey to Malaga and the driver was able to put his foot down. As I said earlier, although we were slightly late in re boarding the ship, we were probably well within normal safety margins, much to Mrs PBT’s relief.