Cordoba, Spain

We had been told that Cordoba was worth spending a decent amount of time in, but had also read that it could be a day trip from Seville.  Since we had a week, we decided to spend two nights in Cordoba, which gave us an afternoon when we arrived, as well as a full day the next day. 

Upon arrival, we quickly learned that Cordoba embraces the siesta culture heavily. We were able to get a lunch at a craft beer bar before heading back to our hotel for a little siesta. That evening, we walked around and got dinner, but Mike was pretty exhausted so we called it an early night.

The next day, our number one priority was to see the Mezquita.  Cordoba is a port city and became the capital of the Moorish kingdom.  The Moors built the Mezquita, or "Great Mosque," which became one of the largest mosques in Islam.  When the Christians conquered the Moors, they thought the Mezquita was too beautiful to destroy, so they converted it to a church. We saw a lot of churches converted to mosques in Turkey, but it's rare that we get to see a mosque converted to a church. Pretty cool! 

Not only was the Mezquita beautiful, but it was HUGE!

That altar!

More oranges!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the old town and embracing the Spanish ambiance (and warm weather!).  We had tapas for lunch, Mike had some Spanish beer and we both got a lot of Vitamin D.

All the meat and cheese!

I love all of the little side streets and alley ways!

We both loved Cordoba! The Old Town had a lot of the same feel as Seville, but the newer parts of the city were more developed and the city as a whole seemed more alive and vibrant, even though it's technically smaller.  I'm glad that we spent a whole day plus an afternoon because it gave us plenty of time to really delve into the ambiance of the city.