We woke up early this morning to catch the train to Malaga. Saw this headline in the news:

A few minutes later, I received this message from Renfe, the rail company:

Even with my limited (nonexistent) Spanish, I could spot key phrases like “uuna incidencia en la infraestructura,” “no presto service,” and “en BUS.” Indeed, our train was canceled.

After a bit of investigation, we decided that renting a car would be superior to a lengthy bus ride. Thus I am tapping this out on my phone while Sarah drives our Opel Corsa past the palms, cactuses, and olive orchards of Andalusia.

When Sarah asked me what I wanted to see in Spain, I was very flexible. I generally don’t want to obsess over checking off every cool thing on a trip. But I did have one requirement: the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba. I’ve seen photos and illustrations since childhood, and I recall learning about it in a class on Islam in college. Something about the red and white striped arches always mesmerized me.

The reality did not disappoint. I was surprised to find myself a bit choked up as I first entered the vast space. It is a stunning example of how two faiths used architecture to represent the sublime.

We walked past the mosque/cathedral to a Roman bridge first built over 2000 years ago. saw old fortifications and the water wheel that, during the Islamic period, was used to raise river water to an aqueduct that supplied the palace.

After tea and siesta, we wended through the alleys to Casa Andalusi. It is both an example of a traditional Andalusian home, with rooms built around a central courtyard, and a museum to local paper making.

The basement of the house included a Roman mosaic from the ruins upon which the house was built.

We caught the high speed train to Cordoba on Monday morning. Cordoba was blazing hot when we arrived. It was a long, awkward walk to the Airbnb, not least because I chose a poor route that required dragging our luggage over cobblestones.

It was worth it, though, once we got to our apartment in the old Jewish quarter, in sight of the famous minaret of the mosque/cathedral. Compared to the tiny Madrid flat, this place was palatial, with a gorgeous rooftop patio.

We enjoyed a late lunch at a tea house down the block. Despite having no air conditioning, the shady courtyard was cool and refreshing.

Sunday was blazing hot, so we took it very slow. Spent time at a massive park (Parque del Buen Retiro) and wandered around the city. The Spain Saudi World Cup match was in the evening, so we enjoyed some bread and cheese and watched it in the comfort of our air conditioned Airbnb.

We visited the Royal Palace on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty over-the-top. Over 3000 rooms. Gilded everything. Frescoes on the ceilings. Enormous paintings. All the things.

There was also an armory, but I’ll post those pics separately.

The two close-ups of the ceiling corners (before the piano)are worth looking at more closely. The artist combined 2D and 3D techniques to make some of the painted figures in the fresco become sculpted plaster as they crossed onto the wall.

Addendum: in one of the parks outside the palace, there are a great number of statues of eminent historical men. On most of them, most of the time, sit one or more pigeons. This seemed right and fitting.

We embarked on a mega-walk today through many lovely Madrid neighborhoods. We stopped for amazing chocolate dipped churros, lots of people watching, and pauses in the shade. (Have I mentioned the blazing summer heat?)

Eventually, we made our way to the Royal Palace where we had 4:30 tickets. After running into one of my students in the plaza, we wended our way through the security line only to learn that our tickets were for tomorrow. They wouldn’t budge. Fortunately, we are on vacation, so who cares? We’ll try again tomorrow.

It was a great adventure, but after more than 20,000 steps, we were worn out by the time we got home.