Day 8: Mosqcathedral
Discovering the Free City of Volantis
October 13, 2019. 7:21 AM. We had a very early morning (causing us to take the morning selfie in the lift instead). We were travelling to the city of Córdoba (a slightly mis-planned day in our Sevilla itinerary). While finalising the itinerary, we gave ourselves three options for day trips from Sevilla — we could either go to Cádiz, Málaga or to Córdoba. We chose to go for Córdoba since we were leaning more towards La Mezquita anyway.
Travel to Córdoba involved an hour and a half-long Renfe train ride (very good experience) from Sevilla. We took a bus to the train station and quickly grabbed breakfast at the McDonalds outlet. I must add that McDonald’s Spain has a significantly better breakfast menu than McDonald’s India.
On reaching Córdoba, we headed straight to La Mezquita for we knew that its shut for visitors between 11 AM to 3 PM. Although slightly rushed, we had sufficient time to admire La Mezquita and its red and white arches. Mezquita also has a bell tower (which we couldn’t visit) and a beautiful orange orchard at the entrance, with waterworks for the ablution to be performed prior to entering a mosque.
We learnt a lot about the history of La Mezquita which is now called “mosque-cathedral”. I have a feeling that this term was forced upon the Christians of Spain who are otherwise very reluctant to accept that most of the other cathedrals are also simply mosques that underwent a change of religion. Trivia: Some historians believe that before the Mezquita (which is the Spanish word for ‘mosque’) was constructed at the site, there was in fact a church there (told you, they were forced). Needless to say, Mezquita is more of a functional cathedral as of today.
We then came explored Judería de Córdoba (the Jewish quarter) with the only preserved (ruins of a) synagogue in the whole of Andalusia (Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492).
The old town of Córdoba is pretty with its narrow alleyways brimming with historic significance. Although it wasn’t shot here, some corners of Córdoba gave me strong ‘Khuda Jana Ke’ vibes with their stark white buildings covered in Ivy and balconies with Geraniums.
I should definitely highlight that we were trotting about this part of the town with the sun right over our heads! But one thing I really appreciate about Spain is the abundance of potable water fountains for public use (something Lisbon ought to learn).
This left us with just 3 more spots on our checklist, one of which was the ‘Long Bridge of the Free City of Volantis’ featured in Game of Thrones. We had been on our feet for almost 4 hours since we reached Córdoba and were now famished. We walked the entire length of Volantis bridge and although it piqued our interest to discover what lay on the other side, our stomachs adamantly refused to humour our curiosity.
We swiftly checked Google for restaurant suggestions around the old town and found a place almost 20 minutes away that caught our eye (no, we didn’t travel thousands of kilometres to compromise). It was called ‘Mercado Victoria’ and it was basically a super chic foodcourt. All sorts of cuisines for all courses of meals were housed in this huge place. My indecisiveness shot out the roof!
But after a lot of pondering, we ordered a Baba Ganoush with minced lamb (divine), a really tasty mexican wrap and a refreshing berry lemonade. We were ready to hit the road again!
Unfortunately though, the penultimate spot on our checklist shut at 3 PM. That left us with Plaza de la Corredera (please skip it; I’m not even including its photograph here) which, given that it was just an open space of historic importance, was covered by us in no time at all.
Albeit a bit too late, it hit us that Renfe allowed preponing of train reservations, and so we headed to the station to catch a train back to Sevilla, 2 hours prior to our scheduled departure. Luck though, was not on our side. The trains were fully booked and now we were stuck at the station with very low battery. C’est la vie.
Some of the seats on Renfe’s Sevilla-bound trains have seats facing each other. We happened to be seated right opposite to a Korean couple, very much in love, for they couldn’t stop eating each others’ nose. Were we prying? No! Just good old people watching. The Korean couple does make a reappearance in our travel story a few days later.
We didn’t feel so bad about being unable to catch the earlier train as much as we felt physically sick of the horror show that the buses of Sevilla were (YES, I’ll be dramatic because that’s what they are). While we waited in some obscure part of Sevilla, for a bus that refused to show up for an hour, we were joined by a drug peddling couple who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) stop snogging.
It was 11 PM by the time we reached Ramon’s flat.
A hot cup of tea and some ready to eat upma with aloo bhujia were just the things that soothed us by the end of an uneventful yet exhausting day.
What our experience says: Leave no more than half a day for Córdoba. Anything more than that is gross overestimation of its beauty (and it is pretty beautiful).
