Cordoba, Monday PM

Cordoba is known for a mosque that was built starting in 900 AD
called La Mesquita. We jumped off our high-speed train, took a taxi,
and were quickly there. Although the guidebooks showed some pictures
and described it, there’s simply no way … that words can
describe how unique, astounding, and amazing this now-cathedral
was.

Nearly 587 columns adorn the mosque section, each with a double-arch on
top, and all painted with stripes. Everywhere we looked, there are
rows, diagonal rows, and secondary diagonal rows. It’s like being in a
house of mirrors, except it’s 1100 years old, full of marble, and
bigger than you can possibly imagine.

I don’t know when the Mark’s discovered it, but for me it took about
20 minutes to find my way around to the center of the mosque, where —
in what some say is an architectural tragedy — there is a 180 foot
tall, 60 foot wide cathedral built right smack-dab in the middle of
this former mosque. (Again, back to the reconquest … when the
Christians re-took the lands, they rebuilt may of the buildings.) It
was unbelievable. The mosque itself was unreal, but to see the gigantic
structure built inside was almost incomprehensible. I tried to take
pictures, but it simply can’t do justice to this place. Check the blog
entry with pictures that will be posted as soon as I get this up …
you’ll get an idea what I mean.

We jumped back on the AVE to Seville, where Mark M and I played the
coolest game of Sorry! ever … it was built into the train … weird,
but I don’t have the energy to explain it right now. It made the trip
feel like 10 minutes, not 43. Anyway, Mark O didn’t feel well and went
“home,” but Mark M and I went out to a Flamenco show at the famous La
Arenal. At first I thought it was a little touristy, but when the
performers started getting into their dance the energy was infectious,
and you could tell that it came from a passion inside. It was a
once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I really really enjoyed the music
and dancing. Mark, too, was blown away. We’d both be very happy going
back to Seville anytime … maybe even living there for a while
somehow. We walked the 10 minutes home, stopping at the bell tower of
the church to watch hundreds of sparrows — which we first thought were
bats — fly in circles around it. Another unreal moment. We finally
made it to bed around 1 or 2 … again. I haven’t been getting -any-
sleep on this trip!!