CavaTravel.com: Travel Info: Córdoba, Spain

Córdoba was the preeminent city in Moorish Spain: educated, wealthy, populous, refined. The city was the intellectual capital of the Caliphate of Al-Andalus. It was here that Maimonides and Averroes dispensed their great philosophical works, where algebra was developed, and where European philosophy was rescued and restored to prominence by eager Moorish students and translators. [Full Profile]

Museums / Culture
The Mezquita mosque is Córdoba's centerpiece. It was the largest mosque in the world when constructed, and offers a glimpse of the culture that once gleamed from the banks of the Guadalquivir.

Worth Knowing About the Mezquita...

Built on the site of a Roman temple, which was later shared by Christians and Muslims, the Mezquita became the pride of the city, so much so that throughout the centuries, Christian cordobeses have fought to preserve the integrity of the structure as built, even when the emperor Carlos V tried to install a chapel.

On Foot
A memorable stroll unlike any other, the Judería, or Jewish Quarter, of the Old City, is an intimate web of narrow streets winding amid whitewashed buildings, and conceals the house of Maimonides, the Zoco (the old Moorish market square), where artisans still work in their storefront shops...

Hotels
Stay right in the city center, across from the Mezquita; choose from elegant old buildings, modern renovations and private hostels.

Restaurants
A walking tour of the old city, nestled alongside the modern shopping district, bring you to a variety of unique, if not typically Spanish eateries.

Transportation
Regional trains and buses take travelers to many cities throughout Andalucía, including Granada, Córdoba, Málaga.

A Brief History: from

The Roman philosopher Seneca was born here, as was Lucan. A fearful battle took place just outside the city: Julius Caesar defeated the army of Pompey in a battle that left 22,000 soldiers dead.

In 711 the city was occupied by the Moors... Its agricultural and mineral wealth, and the convenience of the Guadalquivir River for transport, made Córdoba a valuable asset... It became the capital of the Moorish land of Al Andalus (hence, "Andalucía") in 719. By the C10 the city had reached a level of prosperity unheard of in Christian Europe. There was a university, a great library with 400,000 books, scores of public baths, 300 mosques, 26,000 buildings, 8,000 shops, and a population of a million (four times today's). Art, literature, and philosophy flourished.

» Full essay from

© Passports, Inc., 1993-2003

Xampanyería: A Memoir of Spain

Nothing easier than getting lost in the ruins of another time.

The cobbles, the asphalt, the air were rich with sea salt. The mountains on the northwestern edge of Barcelona invited morning fogs to hang over the whole city, sinking only reluctantly back to the shoreline. These fogs lifted the sediment of history, daily, into the air, a ritual cleaning. A salty timeless savor would, daily, override the sooty-city residue of industry. For those intimate, empty hours, life itself opened up, became vulnerable, reliant upon our will. We tended to attempt to dwell among the salts.

No matter what my intended destination (many days I would have an insurmountable urge to pass by the Museo Picasso; other days, it was more important to find myself at the port’s edge, watching the world in flux), all streets, every exiting of an art gallery, every callejón or escondrijo, every late café luncheon, would lead me back to the xampanyería. We would sometimes joke that all of the Barri Gótic was a series of compartments of the spirit, all fascinating but exhausting, all begging the loud, unclean serenity of the crowded cava bar.

At four p.m., possibly, definitely within the hour, one could locate Michael or Saint Jerome or Renault, Farola or the Dutchman. Nevertheless, it was always the outside, the persistence of the old places, that would drive us there. It was always an integral part of a more organismal experience, never solely, or statically, ‘a separate peace’. [Full Text]

Submit your own travel writings

Casavaria will consider publishing submitted texts for publication in a variety of formats, ranging from inclusion among the travel pages, to eventual publication in book form. Submit work in Spanish, English, Catalán, Portuguese, French or Italian » travel.sentido@casavaria.com

Oxígeno y ciprés: junio en España

ENTRANDO...

Camino por el pasillo abierto que lleva hasta la puerta. Me recuerdo. Recuerdo sin fallos el lugar y el sentido del lugar. Ver el mismo cactus, el encanto de las plantas que llueven sobre los muros, ver la casa, el umbral, la cara y bondad insondable de Gloria, que siempre me cuidaba tan bien, significa una colaboración improbable con el fluír temporal.

Cenamos y hablamos de literatura, de leyenda y de la verdad. Hablamos de ese espacio infinito que corre por entre los nudos y planicies de la biografía a medias.

Me encuentro entre planes, entre mundos, entre variados trayectos de un progreso incierto que se llama vida. El aire tenue y privado está repleto de fantasmas e ideales, preferencias, gustos, y todo lo demás que pueda trascender los cambios cotidianos de la vida... [Texto completo]

POLITICS

HISTORY

GEOGRAPHY

CULTURE

LANGUAGE

	En español
	Copyright Issues
	Terms & Conditions
	Contact Us
	Publish Here!
	About Casavaria