The Route:
- Madrid to Córdoba
- Córdoba to Seville
- Seville to Cádiz
- Cádiz to the pueblos blancos
- The pueblos blancos to Granada
- Granada to Madrid
- A rented Suzuki Ibiza with a full tank of gas
- A suitcase full of clothes and other necessities
- A backback with 10 small stuffed animals (the Kid's, not mine)
- A road atlas gotten for cheap
Liabilities:
- No international driver's licenses
- An imperfect knowledge of the route, particularly regarding the pueblos blancos
- Complete ignorance of Spanish road signs
Our first Spanish road trip. Planned at the last minute. Executed at full speed. We had not been intending to go to Andalusia, but we realized two things. One, if we were going to meet the ship (i.e. the Semester at Sea ship, the MV Explorer) in Cádiz, and see our friends who were sailing on it, we might as well do other things in the area. Two, we only have three chances for big road trips, due to Santiago's school schedule, and this was one of them. So, Wednesday of last week we made some reservations, and Thursday we took off for the south.
Four hours or so from Madrid to Córdoba, first through Castilla-La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote, and then into Andalusia. Along the way we made one stop, at a bizarre roadside rest stop. The place had the obligatory cafe-bar-restaurant, decked out with a fake windmill in honor of Don Quixote, as well as a shop selling local delicacies (cheeses, sausages), but it also sold shoes and knives. Knives, as in folding pocket and/or hunting knives. Why shoes and knives, you ask, rather than, say, coats and automotive tools? The answer was beyond our ken. The place was staffed by two illegal immigrants from Ecuador who sold us cafe con leche and stone-cold churros. We bought neither knife nor shoe. As you will discover at the end of my tale, this rest stop was actually one of the less bizarre establishments along the Autovía del Sur in Castilla-La Mancha.
Now, you may wonder why I fasten on this particular detail, and it has to do with the fact that Castilla La Mancha, at least along highway A-4 heading south, is incredibly boring. It's arid. Flat. The only things to see are the enormous wind farms that dot the landscape.
Not so in Andalusia. A mountain range separates the two regions and the mountains themselves are gorgeous. Rugged and rocky. Once you get through them into Andalusia, you find yourself among rolling hills covered with olive groves. We made it into Córdoba around lunchtime, and ate at a place called Casa Pepe de la Judería, which was a bit on the pricey side but well worth it. I had two Andalusian delicacies, salmorejo (a thicker version of gazpacho) and rabo de toro (braised ox tail). Then we were off to Córdoba's star attraction, the old mosque.
I had been to Andalusia once before, during grad school. I'd gotten a grant to do research in Seville, and had been primed for the experience by a professor of mine who was a native of Seville and a Hispanic medievalist very interested in the interaction of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures in medieval Spain. Nothing can replace the experience of seeing wonderful places for the first time, particularly when you've been studying things that really prepare you for it. But, then again, wonderful places hold up to repeated visits. The mosque in Córdoba definitely does. It's one of the most extraordinary interiors in Spain. See for yourself on Zoë's Facebook album.
We didn't get to see much else in Córdoba. By the time we finished wandering around the mosque, everything else was closed. So we strolled across the Roman bridge that spans the river, and stumbled into a "living museum" dedicated to the culture of Al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Spain). This was a weird little place where you put on these headphones and wandered from one room to the next, listening to audio about different aspects of the culture of that time and place. Cheesy as hell, really, but it was worth it for the detailed model they had of the mosque. The structure today is not what it was in Muslim times. When the Christians conquered Córdoba in the 13th century, they converted the mosque into their cathedral. Over time, the physical structure was altered, as Catholic chapels were added along the walls, and a choir and sanctuary were plopped down in the middle of the thing. The model in the museum helped you visualize the mosque in its original state. Very cool indeed.
That night we spent in Córdoba, and the next morning we were off to Seville. Tune in again soon!
Four hours or so from Madrid to Córdoba, first through Castilla-La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote, and then into Andalusia. Along the way we made one stop, at a bizarre roadside rest stop. The place had the obligatory cafe-bar-restaurant, decked out with a fake windmill in honor of Don Quixote, as well as a shop selling local delicacies (cheeses, sausages), but it also sold shoes and knives. Knives, as in folding pocket and/or hunting knives. Why shoes and knives, you ask, rather than, say, coats and automotive tools? The answer was beyond our ken. The place was staffed by two illegal immigrants from Ecuador who sold us cafe con leche and stone-cold churros. We bought neither knife nor shoe. As you will discover at the end of my tale, this rest stop was actually one of the less bizarre establishments along the Autovía del Sur in Castilla-La Mancha.
Now, you may wonder why I fasten on this particular detail, and it has to do with the fact that Castilla La Mancha, at least along highway A-4 heading south, is incredibly boring. It's arid. Flat. The only things to see are the enormous wind farms that dot the landscape.
Not so in Andalusia. A mountain range separates the two regions and the mountains themselves are gorgeous. Rugged and rocky. Once you get through them into Andalusia, you find yourself among rolling hills covered with olive groves. We made it into Córdoba around lunchtime, and ate at a place called Casa Pepe de la Judería, which was a bit on the pricey side but well worth it. I had two Andalusian delicacies, salmorejo (a thicker version of gazpacho) and rabo de toro (braised ox tail). Then we were off to Córdoba's star attraction, the old mosque.
I had been to Andalusia once before, during grad school. I'd gotten a grant to do research in Seville, and had been primed for the experience by a professor of mine who was a native of Seville and a Hispanic medievalist very interested in the interaction of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures in medieval Spain. Nothing can replace the experience of seeing wonderful places for the first time, particularly when you've been studying things that really prepare you for it. But, then again, wonderful places hold up to repeated visits. The mosque in Córdoba definitely does. It's one of the most extraordinary interiors in Spain. See for yourself on Zoë's Facebook album.
We didn't get to see much else in Córdoba. By the time we finished wandering around the mosque, everything else was closed. So we strolled across the Roman bridge that spans the river, and stumbled into a "living museum" dedicated to the culture of Al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Spain). This was a weird little place where you put on these headphones and wandered from one room to the next, listening to audio about different aspects of the culture of that time and place. Cheesy as hell, really, but it was worth it for the detailed model they had of the mosque. The structure today is not what it was in Muslim times. When the Christians conquered Córdoba in the 13th century, they converted the mosque into their cathedral. Over time, the physical structure was altered, as Catholic chapels were added along the walls, and a choir and sanctuary were plopped down in the middle of the thing. The model in the museum helped you visualize the mosque in its original state. Very cool indeed.
That night we spent in Córdoba, and the next morning we were off to Seville. Tune in again soon!
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