Part 59: La Mezquita and the Iron Maiden Dec 29-30, 2012

I arrived at the Cordoba train station and caught bus #4 to my hostel.  That night, I walked over to the mall to buy groceries at Eroski, a large supermarket.  I caught my first glimpses of the Mezquita on my walk, but, the only thing I explored that night was the internet.  I was tired and decided to start my adventures the next morning. 

Cordoba started out as a roman colony in 169 BC, however, they have found Neanderthal remains from 32,000 BC, so let’s just agree that it has been inhabited for a very long time.   The Visigoths (Germanic tribes) conquered the city in the 6^th century, but their rule didn’t last very long.  Muslims captured Cordoba and it became a provincial capital (or Caliphate) of the independent Arab Muslim emirate of al-Andalus in 766.  During this period of time, the city was quite large and became very advanced and culturally important.  It had many mosques, baths, palaces, and the world’s largest library (according to Wikipedia).   This was a ‘golden age.’  Muslims, Christians, and Jews all lived and worked together (and got along) for several hundred years.  It started going south though and in June of 1236 Cordoba was captured by King Ferdinand III of Castile, during the Spanish Reconquista.   Bring on the Inquisition!

I decided to start my Cordoba experience by visiting the reason everyone goes there anyway:  The Mezquita.  According to the completely nonbiased information pamphlet from the Mother Church of the Diocese cathedral Chapter, the site of the Mezquita started out as the location of the San Vicente Basilica in the 6^th century.   After the “The Islamic Intervention,” the cathedral was destroyed and construction on the mosque began in 785.  The mosque was started by Abd-ar-Rahman I.  He was inspired by the Mosque of Damascus and wanted the mosque to have a traditional courtyard and prayer hall.  However, there were also Spanish and Roman influences in the way the arches were constructed.  The stripes actually come from alternating brick and stone materials.  Over the next 200 hundred years many people expanded the mosque until it was so grand, it passed Damascus as the reference model. 

According to the pamphlet, “The Christian Transformation” began in 1236, after King Ferdinand III conquered Cordoba.   The construction of the cathedral began in 1523.  Basically, they plunked a traditional cathedral down in the middle of the mosque.  The cathedral has the traditional cross shape and is made in the gothic, renaissance and baroque styles.  Around the edges, they did a good job blending the styles of the mosque’s arches and the cathedral’s white and gold carvings, but ultimately, it looks like they plunked a cathedral in the middle.  The church is nice, but doesn’t really stand out from the hundreds of others I’ve poked my head into around Europe.  The arches of the original mosque are what make the building truly unique.   I’m really glad they recognized the artistic value of the structure and didn’t just tear it down and start over. 

I spent probably 3 hours walking around and marveling at the sheer number of columns (856 of them) and red and white arches.  There are also catholic chapels around the edges, mosaics on the walls, and beautiful carvings.  They also put in a small museum that shows some of the restoration work and history of the carvings and a cathedral treasury museum, which shows off a lot of shiny religious things. 

From the Mezquita, I headed across the Roman bridge (1^st century BC) to the Calahorra Tower (12^th centrury), which was built to protect the bridge.   It currently houses a museum about the history of Andalucía.  It was an audio museum where you wear headphones that work on radio waves so you get a new description of history when you walk into a new room.  It was interesting. 

From there I walked down the river past some of the old flour mills (which are over 1,000 years old) to visit the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, which I will call the “castle” from now on.  This castle was one of the primary residences of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and was the seat of the Spanish Inquisition.  It was the site of a medieval fortress and in 1328, Alfonso XI of Castile began building the present day castle.  Isabella and Ferdinand held one of the first permanent tribunals of the Spanish Inquisition here and converted a lot of the castle into torture and interrogation chambers.  The Inquisition maintained a tribunal here for three centuries.  It was opened to tourists in the 1950’s and the best part about it is its amazing gardens. 

I then wandered through the old town, through a plaza and past Roman temple columns before stopping for lunch.  The restaurant did a tapas style lunch, so I got 2 dishes and chocolate cake for dessert.  Mmmmm, cake. 

From there, I followed the suggested walking tour on the map through the old town.  Cordoba has the 2^nd largest medieval old town in Europe, and it is a great place to walk around.  After my exhausting day, I headed back to the hostel for dinner, read my book, and went to sleep. 

The next day, I first wandered into a courtyard to look as some pottery I’d seen a sign for.  I also found the location of Cordoba’s living nativity, which included live donkeys, sheep, chickens, and a turkey.  The lambs were so cute and let me scratch their ears.  I was on the fence about the pottery, so I moved on. 

I was on my way to the Cordoba Synagogue.  It was built in 1315 and has a small courtyard, a small hallway, and a prayer room.  There are several decoratively carved arches with verses written in Hebrew surrounding them.  Given that the Jewish quarter seemed so large on the map, I was surprised by how small the synagogue was.  The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and the building was used as a hospital, a shoemaker’s shop, and a school.  It was declared a national monument in 1885 and has been restored several times since. 

On the same street as the synagogue was Casa Andalusi, a house museum designed to look as it did during the 1100’s.  It also had an interesting exhibit on Moorish paper making techniques.  The house itself was built into the city wall and even had a Visigoth mosaic floor in the basement. 

I explored some more of the town and ultimately stumbled onto the “Inquisition Gallery.”  This museum was a fantastically disturbing collection of torture devices used during the Inquisition.   There were stocks, metal cradles to restrict movement, thumb screws, pears of anguish, an iron maiden,  a Judas Cradle (this one will really make you cringe), the rack, a chair with rotating saw blades in the back, a chair covered in spikes, the saw (shudder) which was used to cut you in half starting between your legs.  Pictures aren’t allowed, but apparently  this guy ignored that.  There was also a nice selection of chastity belts on display.  Basically, you go around every corner and your horrific feelings are renewed.   

Finally, I walked around a bit more and then decided to go back to the living nativity location and buy one of the pots I’d been looking at by Spanish artist Alfareria Tito.  It is beautiful and it is green. 

I then went back to my hostel, where Kevan, the owner had fixed my broken suitcase handle (thank you!), ate some lunch and then headed off to catch my train to Granada.   

Part 58: A Free Walking Tour and a Metro Strike Dec 28, 2012

On my last day in Madrid, I decided to take a free walking tour of the city, but before meeting up with the tour in Plaza Mayor, I decided to go check out the Monumento Alfonso XII in Parque De El Retiro.   This monument was built in 1902 because Queen Mother Maria Christina of Austria wanted to commemorate her son.  It has a statue of the king on a horse along with lots of marble columns and some water.  It’s lovely.

From there, I caught the metro to Plaza Mayor to meet the tour.  I really enjoy these tours and have taken them in several cities.  We started out in the Plaza learning about its history (remember, butcher shops and inquisition executions) and how the garrote (choking) method of Spanish execution was invented. 

We then passed out of the plaza and to the Luis Candelas restaurant.  Candelas was like the Spanish Robin Hood.  He stole from the rich and… kept it for himself.  However, poor people, like prostitutes, liked him because he treated them well so they helped him escape trouble.  He supposedly stored his goods in the building this restaurant now occupies.  Eventually, he robbed the wrong noble man and was executed. 

Other highlights included the world’s oldest restaurant (as determined by the Guinness Book of World Records) and a history lesson on the kings of the Spanish empire (all of whom married their cousins except for the guy that married his niece).  We also saw a building with windows at really odd levels that was designed to make it impossible to determine how many floors the house had.  Apparently, after Madrid became the capital and the Spanish court moved there, there was no place for these noble people to live.  So anyone with a house 3 stories high or more had to house a noble family or pay more taxes.  People obviously weren’t too keen on this idea, so they tried to make it impossible to determine the true number of levels in their homes. 

We then stopped in Plaza de la Villa to look at the old Madrid city hall.  Our guide also taught us how to identify Hapsburg buildings by looking for steep roofs designed to shed snow, which, of course, Madrid doesn’t really get.  Finally we took a turn through Elbow Street and over to Plaza Del Sol before ending our tour at the Royal Palace, where our guide gave us a little Spanish Civil War history before sending us on our way.

I went back to the hostel to grab my bag and I was off to the station to catch the train to Cordoba.  I was planning on taking the metro and, after getting to the platform, ran into two guys that I recognized from my hostel who were also trying to get to the train station.  They were very nice Brazilian med students traveling around Europe for their summer break (remember, Brazil, southern hemisphere).  I got this much info from them because it turned out that Madrid’s metro employees were on strike, so trains came half as often.  When a train did come, we didn’t fit inside. 

So, we decided to try the other line from that station.  On the way up the stairs, my suitcase’s handle broke. :(  At the other platform, we crammed our way onto the train and got off at Gran Via to transfer lines.  That was not happening.  The trains were so full, we decided we had to walk. 

On our walk, we discussed how a marriage proposal made to me could be quite humorous, (“Mary will you marry me?”), the nursery rhyme taunting of my childhood, what music we liked, and how long it would take us to actually make it to the station.  We made it in plenty of time and they were off to Barcelona while headed upstairs to catch my train to Cordoba.  Adios, Madrid.  It was fun. 

Part 57: Armor, Art, and Fountains Dec 27, 2012

Day 2 in Madrid started out with a trip to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace).  The site the palace sits on has been in royal use since Muslim rulers in Toledo built a defensive structure known as the Royal Alcázar of Madrid there in the ninth century.  The Alcázar was updated and expanded by Spanish kings and officially became a royal palace when Madrid became Spain’s capital in the 16^th century.   It was used until it burned down on Christmas Eve in 1734.  (Alas, more fire)

Four years after the fire, construction on the current royal palace started.  It is the second largest royal palace in Europe after the Louvre (hey, it wasn't always a museum).  It was finished in 1755 and King Carlos III was the first king to officially start living there in 1764.  It is designed in the Hapsburg style (big and elaborate) since Spanish rulers were all mixed in with French and Austrian ones by then.

You enter the palace by coming into the huge courtyard in the back that overlooks the Cathedral.  I chose to tour the royal rooms first.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, but this website has pictures of the entire inside.  The throne room was red with lots of gold.  I also saw a room completely covered in painted porcelain.  Other rooms had amazing raised moldings all around and the royal chapel, the dome of which is visible from the outside of the palace, was amazing.   Also on display in one room is the world’s only complete Stradivarius string quintet, which I was happy to see is sometimes actually used by musicians.

From the royal rooms I toured the armory.  I expected guns, crossbows, maybe some helmets and uniforms from different time periods, but I was wrong.  The armory holds hundreds of suits of armor.  Two floors of it.  Some armor comes from the 1400’s and the collection includes tournament pieces made for Charles V and Philip II and full battle armor made for Charles V.  There were children-sized suits and even suits made for women, which try as I might, I could not really find additional information on. 

The last part of the palace tour is the pharmacy.  It was amazing.  I wanted to break the no photo rule so badly!   Philip II started the royal pharmacy to supply medicine to the royal family.  This tradition continues today and the museum even holds portraits of all the royal pharmacists.  The pharmacy has painted drawers and pottery all labeled with different ingredients.  It was really cool. 

After the palace, I stopped for lunch before catching the metro over to the Reina Sofia Art Museum.  This museum was founded in 1992 by the current king and queen of Spain and is one of the most important modern art museums in the world.  I really do like some modern art.  I really hate others (see the top left picture: Great White by Gerardo Rueda, which is a picture I’m pretty sure anyone who has laid tile has recreated multiple times).  Overall, I really enjoyed this museum.  The most famous piece I saw was Guernica by Picasso, which he made to illustrate the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.  I also saw a few pieces by Dali, one of my favorite artists (along with Grant Wood.  I have weird diverse taste).  Additionally, I really liked the evil Snuffleupagus painting ,The Four Dictators, and anything done in black and white.   I also saw a film that shows a tree blowing in the wind and the only audio is a voice saying “tree” over and over again.  It was… different. 

From the Reina Sofia, I went to the Prado Musuem.  The Prado had free entry from 6-8 pm.  If you really want to look around, you’ll need more time than that.  The Prado has one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world and it is a large collection:   according to Wikipedia, they have 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings.   Only a fraction of these are ever on display due to lack of space. 

I was fine with free admission and limited time, so I joined the line to go in.  I decided to focus on the masterpieces listed in the museum map.  I really liked Descent from the Cross by Van Der Weyden.  It almost looks 3-D when you’re standing in front of it.  The Triumph of Death by Brueghel was creepy and full of symbols.  My favorite non-masterpieces were The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in His Art Gallery at Brussels  and The Sciences and the Arts.  For some reason, I really like paintings that show other paintings in them. 

After the Prado closed, I walked up Paseo Del Prado towards Fuente de Neptuno, an amazing fountain dating from 1786.  Farther up the street, I encountered Cibeles Square.  This square includes the Fuente De Cibeles and the amazing Cibeles Palace.  This palace was actually built in 1909 as the headquarters of the postal service.  Now it is Madrid’s city hall.  Also located there is the Bank of Spain.  The most interesting thing I learned about this building is that before the invention of modern security systems, the gold storage room in the basement would be flooded with water from the fountain in case of danger. 

I then turned and walked down Gran Via, the main fancy shopping street.  It has many tall and impressive buildings and I was stared at for probably 10 minutes by the adorable baby I was following down the street.  He was really cute and his dad thought it was really funny how intently he was focused on me.  But then, I always have been a big hit with the under 1 crowd.   

To end the day, I grabbed a Starbucks turkey sandwich (ok, so I don't really travel for the food) and headed back to the hostel to eat and talk to my friends from the night before about their Madrid experiences.   

Part 56: ¡Hola, Madrid! Dec 26, 2012

I have wanted to go to Spain ever since I did a project on Cataluña in 11^th grade Spanish.  Ten years later, I was off!  I called a taxi at 5 am and it didn’t come.  So I recalled a taxi at 5:20 am and ended up with a wet spot on my bum from the leaky water bottle the driver had in the seat before I sat down.  I hoped this was not a sign of things to come, and luckily, there were no other complications. 

I got to Madrid and dropped my bag off at my hostel and headed out to see the sights.  I was there just in time to see the changing of the guard at the royal palace.  Apparently, if you are lucky enough to be there on the first Wednesday of the month this little show involves 400 guards and 100 horses.  However, I was there on the last Wednesday of December and only witnessed the scaled down 27 guards, 6 horses version.  Still, they had a fife. 

From there, I walked up the road to Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s most famous square.  The design of the Plaza was ordered by King Philip II in 1576.  It was more in the suburbs of Madrid at that time and was supposed to replace an old market.  However, it wasn’t actually built until 1617 by Philip III.  After a few fires (per the usual), the current look is from 1790.  The Plaza has served as a market, a bull fighting ring, and an Inquisition execution site.   A few days later I took a free walking tour where the guide described the butcher shop as being right next to the executioner’s block.  Lovely. 

I headed down Calle Mayor towards Puerta Del Sol.  This plaza is on the “must see” lists for Madrid, but I wasn’t that impressed.  It is certainly busy, and it has the famous bear and tree statue, but mostly, I found it to be crowded and not that spectacular.  It was originally the site of the Sun Gate through Madrid’s old city walls, which is what its name is derived from.  Now it has the zero kilometer point for measurement on Spain’s roads and the President of Madrid’s office, which, in spite of it not being an office for the country’s government, is still the most popular spot for political protests to take place.  It is also the place to celebrate New Year’s Eve while you eat your 12 grapes. 

I moved on through the streets of Madrid, passing a Dunkin’ Coffee (which is apparently how Dunkin’ Donuts has branded itself in Europe.  It doesn’t even make sense.  You can’t dunk coffee.  You can dunk donuts into coffee.  Plus, it’s not like they don’t sell donuts) and several old buildings before winding my way back toward Plaza Mayor and the Mercado de San Miguel.  The Mercado is housed in a unique glass and iron building from 1916, however the inside is newly redone and full of food.  Lots of food.  Desserts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, chocolate, empanadas, paella, freshly made potato chips, fish, and other tapas.  I ate my way through there two days in a row for lunch. 

I then walked down towards the Santa María la Real de La Almudena cathedral.  It was originally planned in the Gothic revival architecture style and construction began in 1870.  However, construction stopped during the Spanish Civil War and did not pick back up again until 1950 when plans were revised for a baroque exterior to match the nearby royal palace.  It was completed in 1993 and the inside is very modern.   

The next thing on the list was a visit to a 2,000 year old Egyptian Temple.   The Temple Debod was a gift from the Egyptian government to Spain as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for Spain’s help in rescuing the Temples of Nubia from being flooded by a dam project in the 1960’s.  I got to the park and discovered that the temple is free to visit, but didn’t open for another hour so I decided to visit the nearby train station to buy my overnight train ticket to Barcelona that I could not reserve online. 

Have you ever been trying to walk somewhere and you can see the building, but you can’t find the door?  That is how I felt while trying to find the front of the Principe Pio train station.  I could have hit it with a rock, but there was a giant wall and then a construction site blocking my way.  I finally got inside and went to the Renfe office, only to discover the guy didn’t speak English and apparently wasn’t interested in listening to my Spanish, even though I’m pretty sure he knew exactly what I said.  Some people. 

A man that was actually helpful but worked in a different part of the station told me Senor. Unhelpful would be replaced by someone else in about 30 minutes, so I walked over to visit the giant Campo del Moro Gardens.  The park is so named because in 1109 Ali Ben Yusuf supposedly made camp here while trying to recapture Madrid and Alcazar Fortress from the Christian powers.  It was opened to the public in 1978 and offers a great view of the royal palace on the hill. 

I went back to the train station and finally got my ticket from a very nice employee with enough English to fill in the gaps in my Spanish.  I then headed back up the hill to the temple and waited in line to get in.  Inside I saw hieroglyphics and carvings and a museum about how the temples of Nubia were saved by a joint effort between UNESCO and several countries. 

From there, I walked down the road to the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande.  I really only visited this church because it was getting late and it was one of the only things still open, but I’m so glad I went.  I’ve been in a lot of churches over the last year or so.  It’s just part of what you do in Europe.  Most of them blend together and don’t really stand out in my mind.  This one, however, was a jaw dropper. 

It was built in 1760 by King Carlos III and is amazing due to the round sanctuary complete with a dome that is 108 feet in diameter (larger than the dome in St. Paul’s in London, according to the internet).  What makes this dome so amazing though is that it covers the entire seating area and it is low to the ground.  In most churches the dome is so far above you that 108 feet across doesn’t look that big.  However, if it starts about 3 stories up, it looks really big.  Plus, it’s painted with bright colors and lined with gold leaf.  It is honestly one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever visited.  The chapels around the edges also have amazing paintings, one by Goya, and house the remains of lots of historically famous dead people. 

After I left, I walked up back up the road towards Plaza Mayor.  I popped into another church just long enough to look at the amazing wood carvings on all the walls before completing my trip back to the Plaza to take a picture of it at night.  After that I headed back to my hostel to sleep, but ended up playing beer pong with people from India, Brazil, China, Mexico, and Venezuela, all of whom were nice enough to not make me drink the beer myself since I hate the way it tastes.