Captivating Cordoba - Spain's Old Moorish Capital

"Primavera eterna," explains the waiter, watching me fumbling for my sunglasses. Eternal spring. It's 20C, palms are swaying in the breeze, and the whitewashed houses on my street are covered in a scarlet explosion of bougainvillea. I'm sitting at a side-walk café, under a resplendent blue sky, and I’m feeling re-energised for some more exploring after downing a strong Arabic coffee.

Welcome to Cordoba, once the Arab World’s stronghold in southern Europe. Along with Seville and Granada, this is one of the great trio of Moorish cities of southern Spain. Today, however, it is by far the quietest, and to many tastes the most ‘genuine’ historical town.

Cordoba is a World Heritage example of ‘1001 Nights’ Moorish architecture, shady white-washed plazas, and cobbled streets.

The conquering Arab Moors arrived from North Africa in AD 711 and made Cordoba their capital, and named this European toehold of Islam Al-Andalus. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Cordoba rose to become the largest and most cultured city in Europe, until it was retaken by the Christians in 1236.

What the Moors left behind were architectural masterpieces that look like something out of Sinbad. Even the rabid, conquering Spanish Christians, laid down their swords in awe of the beauty of these Arab-influenced buildings, and refused to destroy them. Indeed, a stroll around the narrow, cobbled lanes of Cordoba feels more like being in the Middle East, not Europe.

In the middle of it all stands the Mezquita, spiritual home of the Moorish caliphate, or ruler. This is one of Spain’s great buildings, unique within Islamic architecture, and with the added peculiarity of having a Christian cathedral inserted in it midst!

Part of the mosque’s interior was scooped out in the 16th century, and a Christian cathedral installed in its place, with devastating effect on the cool column-filled prayer halls of the mosque, and bursting through the roof like a surfacing whale!

It’s so strange to walk through a continuous line of subtle stone arches and then happen upon a large cathedral, built of marble with high ceilings and ostentatious gold decorations. But it was surprisingly beautiful to see the monuments of two religions side by side. Apparently the Christians and Muslims used to share the site as a place of worship prior to the mosque being built.

The Spanish Emperor Charles V was horrified when he saw it right after its completion, uttering with dismay, ”You have destroyed something unique, to build something commonplace.” But the resulting blend of Renaissance and Arab architecture makes this great building even more unique.

Wrapped around La Mezquita are some intriguing cascos antiguo (ancient quarters). Old Cordoba's most attractive neighbourhood is the maze called Barrio Juderia. Huddled together along tiny alleys just wide enough for two thin people to pass each other, this old Jewish Quarter is a charming pueblo blanco (white village) – complete with cobbled streets, little squares, and whitewashed houses with interior courtyards, draped in potted flowers. The streets carry colourful names: Agua (water), Vida (life), Pimiento (pepper), Angeles (angels), Gloria (glory).

The old Jewish Quarter clusters close to the key buildings of this Arab city; evidence of the close cooperation between these two cultures that resulted in a great city, far larger than the sum of its parts.