Not a Perfect Day Trip to Cordoba

Cordoba is only a 45 minute train ride from Seville and we wanted to go and visit its historic old town as it used to be the regional capital for both the Roman and Moorish Empires.  It also has one of the best Islamic sights, the Mezquita,  which was originally a Mosque and is now a Cathedral.  We planned to spend eight hours there exploring the Mezquita and roaming around old town before taking the train back to Seville.  The Mosque opens from 08:30 - 11:30 and from 15:00 - 19:00 so we arrived at 09:30 hoping to spend a couple of hours at the Mosque before heading out to explore the old town.  We arrived to find the Mezquita closed for a special event and would not open until 15:00. Ok, onto plan B and we will tour the old town, have lunch and then head back to the Mezquita at 15:00, we had plenty of time.  We explored the lovely and interesting town, had lunch and came back to the Mezquita to find a line-up!!!  All the guided tours and many individuals like Rita and I that had planned a morning visit had come back at 15:00 as well as all the guided tours and individuals who planned to visit in the afternoon were all there.  There was no way we were going to enjoy this experience and so we decided to take a taxi back to the train station and head back to Seville.  Of course, I had purchased non-refundable tickets and so we had to buy two more tickets to get back or wait another five hours.  Not the way we planned our tour of Cordoba, but what we saw was lovely.

We were able to go into the courtyard of the Mezquita and this is one part of the Mosque

A small door was open and so I took this shot of part of the main floor of the Mezquite 

The Mosque was started in 784 and took until 987 to be completed.  In 1236 the Christians conquered Cordoba and turned the Mezquita Mosque into a Roman Catholic Church.  The tower was renovated in 1593 and the bell tower added in 1664

Part of the massive wall built to protect the Mezquita Mosque

The Roman Bridge of Cordoba was originally built in the 1st century BC crossing the Guadalquivia River.  It has been reconstructed several times but most of the present structure dates from the Moorish reconstruction in the 8th century.  It was completely restored in 2008 and made into a lovely pedestrian walking bridge.  The Calahorra Tower protecting the bridge was built in the 12th century and restored in 1369.

The Old Town of Cordoba is also very charming with its many white washed homes and narrow, cobbled streets.  We enjoyed our time in Cordoba but were very disappointed that we did not get to tour the Mezquite.  Hopefully, another time.