I just saw the Mezquita of Cordoba.
OH. MY. GOSH.

I remember studying the Mezquita (or mosque) of Cordoba in my world architecture class in college. That week I vowed to myself that I would see it someday (along with the Alhambra – which I get to see tomorrow if all goes as planned!)

A little background. (You can skip this paragraph if you aren’t interested in the background, but I think it’s interesting). Basically in the 600s a church was located here. In the 700s, the Islamic rulers destroyed and built it into a mosque instead. By the 900s, when Cordoba had become the capital of Al Andalus, they had greatly expanded, making it what it is today (except for the next part). Later in the 1200s-ish, when the christians from the north took over, instead of building their own new church, they just turned it into a church again – no major changes – just adding some small chapels. But the biggest change came somewhere near the 16tg or 17th century when some king decided to build a giant basilica right in the middle of this phenomenal building. Today, some people look on the bright side in that it’s a place to see where cultures and religion have collided. But actually, I am kind of on the other side and a little pissed about that part, as are a lot of people , because they basically desecrated a magnificent piece of architecture and history. If you ever see it, you’ll see what I mean. I can’t imagine to have seen it in its 10th century form. The basilica is cool but I don’t think it’s anything ground breaking. However, the mosque was some of the most innovative architecture of its time if not still. The double stacked horseshoe columns particularly. (And a lot of the pillars are apparently from roman and Visigoth ruins!)

It actually still functions as a church today, which I didn’t know. It’s really controversial for various reasons. I also heard that now Spanish Muslims are now trying to get permission to hold their own worship there, but we can all guess the Catholic church’s answer to that. Moving on…

So anyway…

I only have a week in Spain, and I seriously considered skipping it and just doing the Alhambra in Granada for the sake of time. But I came up with a brilliant plan that I wasn’t entirely sure would work. I would book my train to Granada so that I had a connection for a few hours in Cordoba. Voila. Well my “layover time” was just 2 hours. That would give me 30 minutes to walk to and from the Mezquita and an hour to see it.

My train got in 10 mins early, but then the train station didn’t have a luggage storage place! Finally I asked someone and they directed me to the bus station across the street. I finally found it but then couldn’t figure out where to buy the token and there wasn’t anyone around to ask! Finally I found a security guard who showed me the token machine. I shoved everything I could into the locker and then hurried off.

According to the map, the Mezquita would be more or less 3/4 of a mile (based on my poor kilometer to mile conversion skills). Now I was down to just 1.75 hour. I planned 30 mins walking time. By the way, it’s HOT here… like Texas hot. I expected that. But it’s a stark change from the 60 degrees where I was last night. I hussled. I had a map but once I turned inside the old city wall, I realized my map was useless.

The streets were all so small a car couldn’t drive through. And I couldn’t find any street names. I wondered if I’d find it at all! But surely I couldn’t miss it! So I did my best to follow my sense of direction and keep making turns in the direction the map in my head told me was towards the Mezquita.

Before I knew it, it was there standing in front of me. Massive.

There weren’t many people. I had a good 45 minutes for looking around.

I bought my ticket easily and entered through the beautiful Courtyard of Orange Trees.

When I finally stepped inside, my mouth fell open in awe. Wow. I mean WOW. Increyible!

I walked around with my mouth agape for too long. Every once in a while id see a security guy looking at me a little funny and then realize I had my mouth open in amazement. Haha. I’m pretty sure I unintentionally said “Wow” aloud multiple times. [If you’ve traveled with me or seen unexpected or rare wildlife with me (particularly monkeys) you know exactly what I’m talking about ;)]

I even had that moment where you don’t know if you should laugh or cry or shout or something else. Ya I’m a nerd, culture mixed with the right history and architecture can do that to me.

I am still in awe. Even now I have very few words other than I’m so glad I didn’t skip it.