{"id":856,"date":"2022-04-06T21:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T21:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/?p=856"},"modified":"2022-04-06T21:00:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T21:00:36","slug":"cordoba-original-rest-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/cycletooth-othello\/2022\/04\/06\/cordoba-original-rest-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Cordoba Original Rest Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Weather is clearing! Yay! We toured the city today, yesterday’s unexpected extra rest day allowed for chores such as laundry, but today was all ours!…and we made the most of it!<\/div>\n
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One building alone is reason enough to put C\u00f3rdoba high on any itinerary: the mesmerising multiarched Mezquita. One of the world’s greatest Islamic buildings, the Mezquita is a symbol of the worldly, sophisticated culture that flourished here more than a millennium ago when C\u00f3rdoba was capital of Islamic Spain and western Europe’s biggest, most cultured city.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But today’s C\u00f3rdoba is much more than the Mezquita. C\u00f3rdoba’s real charms unfold as you explore the winding, stone-paved lanes of the medieval city to the west, north and east of the touristic area immediately around the Mezquita, wandering between wrought-iron balconies and lamps, potted plants, overhanging trees, golden-stone buildings and verdant interior patios, emerging every few minutes on yet another quaint little hidden plaza.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"This bell tower replaced the Muslim minaret by the Christians. Above is the courtyard just inside the high walls of the mosque. This mosque is massive, more than the size of 3 Canadian football fields!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mosque-Cathedral<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most cities in southern Spain have monuments from their periods under Moorish and \u2013 subsequently \u2013 Christian rule, but nowhere are they combined in the same structure as they are in C\u00f3rdoba. The city\u2019s Mosque-Cathedral is the greatest dual-identity monument in Spain and a powerful symbol of the two cultures that have shaped Andalusia. After the Moors captured C\u00f3rdoba in 711, what had previously been a Visigoth Christian church was split in two and used by both Christians and Muslims as a place of worship. But in 784, on the orders of the Emir Abd al-Rahman, the church was destroyed and work on a great mosque began. Construction lasted for over two centuries and the building was eventually completed in 987, by which point C\u00f3rdoba was the most important city in the Islamic Kingdom.<\/p>\n

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When the city was reclaimed by Christians in 1236, the mosque was converted into a church and in the 16th century Charles V added a great Renaissance nave right on top of the original Moorish structure. The mosque\u2019s most-photographed aspect is its vast main hall, which is supported by over 850 double-arched columns. Sunlight and shadows create unusual effects as you wander among them, contemplating the multifaceted history of this great building.<\/p>\n

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