Madrid to Cordoba

Long day of travel half way down Spain from the capital Spain, through Mancha de Castella to Andalucia. We took a short stop in Don Quixote country and saw the magnificent windmills. Don Quixote is apparenty the most translated book in the world after the bible...

Cordoba is an old city where we saw what had been the second largest mosque after that in Mecca. Construction of the mosque began in 7th century and is a fantastic design inside.

The pillars are recycled from roman buildings so are all different materials and heights... marble, granite, alabaster. The arches that are the mosque construction are brick and stone. The building held 20,000 people at once. Two extensions  were made by subsequent kings, one of which was elevated to calif status and had exquisite design. This is original, not restored.

In the picture below you can see some of the original work and where it was Christianised...

Above is from it was used as a mosque up until the Christians took over Spain in 1400s. The design of the altar uses the scientific knowledge of the series of inhabitants - phoenecians, romans and arabs. So if the speaker stood under this dome, his voice would transmit through this enormous building to 20,000.

When Spain reconquered by Christian in 1400s, they usually knocked down the 600 mosques. This one was considered so beautiful the minaret was converted to a belltower and a chapel placed in middle of building with small altars around the edges (We did then hear this story every cathedral we went to the further south we went). Anyhow, this saint in the treasury has his pooch with him :-) hence worthy of a photo.

Oh and here is a Roman bridge leading to the city.

Anyhow, certainly worth a visit if in Andalucia!