The Patios of Cordoba and a picnic on the patio - Day 7 - The Bishop/Kalinowski/Olsen Tour

Sunday morning found the group with some free time in Sevilla. As Concepcion had mentioned a number of things to do in the city, ideas were not hard to come by. The Cathedral was visited, streets were explored, and the time passed quickly. At 12:30 we were off to witness another UNESCO World Heritage site: Cordoba. It's not just the Mezquita/Cathedral of Cordoba that's on the list, it's the whole city center. First was lunch. After seeing the Mother's Day mobs in the restaurant, we decided on an impromptu picnic. Lola, our guide, was a great help, finding us a sandwich bar and helping with the orders. Once everyone had a sandwich - and a couple of local pastries for dessert - we stopped in the patio of the Mezquita, in the shade of the bitter orange trees (which, as Lola later explained are easily discernible from sweet oranges by their leaves) to picnic and prepare ourselves for the afternoon tour.


La Mezquita, the Moorish mosque that has been transformed into a church, is one of the greatest testaments to how important Cordoba was. The mosque had room for 25000 worshippers back in the times when Cordoba was under the caliphs and was one of the biggest cities in the West. Lola took us through section by section, explaining how parts were recycled, why so many columns and much more, always in an engaging and charming demeanor. Steve Kalinowski took up the challenge on getting a good picture in one particularly tricky area with light contrasts and extreme detail in the carving. We sat by the organs and learned the history of the Church before we headed out of the Mezquita to explore the rest of the old city. As it was Mother's Day, and the Patios of Cordoba Festival, and a spectacular Sunday afternoon, there were more than a few people out exploring. But Lola, like Rosa in Granada, seemed to find ways to make our experience that much more intimate.

From the Jewish synagogue to the preeminent eye doctor of the Moorish empire, Lola kept us intrigued and laughing all the while until we parted company. The last stop was the Patios. Cordoba's Patio festival dates back to 1918, and was designed to bring the culture, architecture and patrimony of this national treasure into the limelight. After a couple of queues that were too long, we found a couple of patios from the 50+ that were open to the public. Such colors, such vibrancy, such a unique experience!

Arriving back in Sevilla in time for a small tapas dinner, we stopped at the restaurant next door to the hotel. On this quiet back street of the Santa Cruz quarter, it's almost hard to believe that just a few meters away are the loud, busy and a different kind of fun than we were looking for this evening. A quiet tapas dinner, with a nice sangria, was just was was needed. Oh, and a Vespa with a whitewashed spare tire on it to boot, but maybe that's a different story.

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