Cordoba - Seville Day Twenty

Day Twenty

Date:     18 April  2013

Place:    Cordoba - Seville

Weather:   Hot!! 36 degrees.

Accommodation: 

After breakfast at the hotel which obviously caters for English and German tourists with its array of buffet eats we set off to explore Le Mezquita which was literally three paces from the front door of our hotel.

It was just before opening time and a queue was already forming.  This large mosque was built in 756 and was built in three stages each time making it vastly larger.  Originally the Le Mezquita catered for 9400 people but the last stage brought the numbers to forty thousand. 

Looking up from the internal Courtyard of the Orange Trees.

The exquisite interior.

All phases of the extensions kept the same striped theme.

Huh....sitting in the cathedral looking at the altar on one side and the mosque on the other!

 

This is part of the treasury....huge and used for Corpus Christi procession once a year.

 



Me.....just to give you an idea of the size!

 

In the lovely Courtyard of the Orange Trees....blazing sunlight!

 

The mosque is impressive in its size and grandeur.  Tall double arched columns coloured in cream and a striped reddish brown fill the entire mosque.  It is difficult to look down as your eyes are drawn upwards at the row upon row of columns.  The mosque was designed to bring in natural light through the placement of cuppolas at the side of the mosque and it is softly lit without any other additions of light.

The amazing addition of a church in the central area of the mosque is quite bizarre!  The renaissance church was built in 1523 under the direction of Carlos V.  It is entered on either side of the naves and has an extremely ornate altar and ceiling with an over the top choir made completely out of walnut.  As I was sitting I could see into the mosque with all its huge columns!

Once we had completed our tour we were on our way to Seville.  Accommodation was somewhat difficult to find but we discovered why…..it was FIESTA time!  Gee, the travel fairy was looking after us today.  After a tricky start in finding our way to the hotel including one way narrow streets (thank goodness for GPS) we caught a bus to the fair.

On the way we saw many women dressed in flamenco wear….even on the bus.  The general format is tight all the way down to the knees which gives way to layers of voluminous ruffles, low back, huge earrings, large flower on top of the head, and either sleeveless or elbow length ruffled sleeves.  The men are dressed in suits and the children look adorable in traditional wear.  As we approached the fair in our travel gear we realised we were going to look completely out of place…..like going to the Melbourne cup without a hat!

The grand entrance to the fair.

 

Private tents.....invitation only.  The tents have to be in green or red stripes.  We were able to use a public tent with lots of tables, dancing, sherry and .....heat!

 

Now the travel fairy was even cleverer…..as we were trying to make sense of it all we came across an information booth and as we walked up a lady asked:  are you here for the English tour?  Within a minute we were signed up and on our way with our little group in searing heat understanding the traditions of the fair.  What fun…..we finished in a tent open to the public with a glass of sherry. 

Ready for the tour.....one tourist in the middle looks pretty pleased with himself!

A private tent....owners pay a weekly fee and apparently you have to be pretty wealthy to own one.  The site covers 6 acres.

Oh, to be rich!

 

Hundreds of coaches, and thousands of beautifully dressed people!  What a treat for us!

 

The heat was pretty oppressive so after a while we retreated to a café just up the road for something to eat and a bit of a reprieve.

We then wandered to our bus to go to the old part of the city.  At 4.30pm it was still registering at 36 degrees!

It’s a lovely city with plenty of character which we will find out more of tomorrow.  The day finished with a great meal served up with indifference and it was time for the four tired pilgrims to find their way back home.