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After the Mezquita |
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When we finished touring the Mezquita, we were wisked through Cordoba's narrow streets into the city's ancient jewish quarter. The walk took us to a synagogue and past a memorial to Ben Maimonides, a thirteenth century thinker and philosopher of hebrew origin.
Some of the narrow passageways were very picturesque--as this one.certainly is . .
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| Some of the less picturesque streets weren't much wider than aisles in a department store (I wonder what spurred THAT analogy). . . |
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| And some of the passages were simply gangways . . . |
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| I thought the synagogue was interesting--with its walls extensively decorated. But it was not at all as inspiring as its companion in Toledo . . . |
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And here, as a memorial to the intellectual influence wielded by Cordoba, is a statue of Maimonides.
 The next day the Tour de Spain bicycle race was scheduled to start from Cordoba. Our hotel was filled with athletic young racers, supported by huge vans and buses. Each team was readily identifiable by its uniforms and colors. It was quite a pageant. The Spanish take their cycling no less seriously than the French! That evening some of our group strolled from the hotel, and across the roadway, to a government tourist enterprise--a "Paradora". Paradoras are castles that have been converted to hotels or, in some cases they are new hotels built to look like old castles. They're attractive and enticing. But, at night, they are not very photographable. Later in our travels, we would be able to stop at a paradora during daylight hours. We over-nighted in Cordoba, then the next day--it was off to Seville!
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