Una noche en la ciudad muerta: A night in the dead city

Tom was thirsty as we searched desperately for a cafe, bar, restaurant...something? ANYTHING! We are hungry, poor college kids in Cordoba on a Monday night--and NOTHING is open in Cordoba on Monday night...at least not where we live in the old city.

We FINALLY found the only food place open in this spanish city...A Chinese restaurant-imagine that. Afterwards, we took our time walking back, and were sidetracked by the only bright light we saw on the walk, which happened to belong to this plaza and old church.

This plaza is to the left of the church from the previous picture. Ben and Felipe are admiring the construction...or are they plotting to break in? We'll never know! The plaza was pretty cool especially at night with the shadows of the arcade from the street lights.

One of the few buildings with any light was La Mezquita, itself! This picture was taken after the group split up before the bridge over the Guadalquivir River. Bob, Felipe, Ben, Billy, Rob, Vic, Sean, and I headed to "the other side" to see what we could find. Cordoba must have SOMETHING to do at this time on a Monday night!

Indeed it does...MORE PLAYGROUNDS! We really are drawn to them in some mysterious way! Billy commandeers the ship through sand dunes and Rob maintains that HE is "King of the World."

We found a big block, which pretty much had no purpose until we came along and made it a pedestal for this fabulous photo. Then we left the playground and made way for the wet, unlit path along the Guadalquivir.

While we really wanted to cross the bridge that was under construction, we managed to keep ourselves under control and NOT to fight the guard. As we continued on our way, I did a double take..."Guys?! What the hell is a BLOBJECT?" Clearly, no one knew...we still haven't figured it out..."Give me your best 'I'm a Blobject' impression!"

Disclaimer: No trees were hurt in the taking of this photo. As we were walking through a grassy area (in which we found yet ANOTHER fantastic Spanish playground), Bob came across this GINORMOUS palm branch, and Ben found...no surprise: an orange. After Bob chased Victoria and Ben with it for a bit, we decided the moment should be caught on camera, and this is the result.

Well...since Cordoba, like most cities, used to be fortified with walls, there are a few towers remaining. We climbed the super-steep stairs of a different one, and were going to be illegal and go inside the locked gates, but we are pretty much big wusses and we scared ourselves from talking about the possiblities of killers and such before running away to this tower, the next one along the river. This is basically a re-enactment of all of those high school movies when they show people running out of school on the last day before summer...I dont know why, but I guess jumping off a tower is kind of the same as jumping off the front steps at school!? Sean, Ben, Vic, and Rob were awesome at it, too-don't you think?!

I know, I know-this looks totally fake and I probably found it online, right? Wrong. This is one of the molinos left over along the river after being captured on film with an extended exposure time since it was so dark and there weren't any lights to capture this ruin otherwise. It was about 10 or 15 feet from the sidewalk where we stood, and the vegetation was probably about 10 feet down...we were trying to do the math to see if the boys could jump to it to explore, but we factored in the possibility that they would fall through the roof, slip on the jump, or miss completely and that = not worth trying...but it was exciting to consider! I have to include the fact that this was an innovative machine as well as a building which used its natural resources to its advantage...maybe the current world should take a hint.

La Mezquita: The Great Mosque of Cordoba

CORDOBA

Home of La Mezquita...a huge mosque dating to the 900s, it was added to multiple times by different rulers. When the Christians regained control of the area in the 1200s, it was named a Cathedral, and a section at the center of the mosque was constructed into a Christian church. I think that most of us, as architecture students, were astounded that people would attempt to desecrate such a great religious structure with little or no regard for the spaces it is surrounded by. There are no transitions of note between the two types of architecture and the church creates a block in the center of the open forest of columns supporting 2-tiered arches. It was sad and amazing all at once.

The entry to the Mosque starts before the Mosque itself, in a plaza full of orange trees with a complex irrigation system throughout.

The first step inside brings immediate awe at the full height screen bringing light into the entry-way.

From the screen, you can sit on the bench and strain your eyes into the dimly-lit expanses of the mosque all the way to the mihrab wall. Your view is bordered by the columns and double arches on either side.

A look in either direction will awe you as you stare into the grid of columns that covers the plan of the mosque and lifts the ceilings beyond view.

All the way at the back is where the actual heart of the Mosque sits: the Mihrab. This niche is etched with scripture and ornately decorated in the utmost detail. While not well-lit, this is the destination point of Muslims because it is the part of the Mosque closest to Mecca, the direction in which they pray 5 times daily.

I refrained from taking many pictures of the Christian part of the mosque/cathedral, which I now realize robs any viewers from drawing their own conclusions about the cathedral inside. This, however, was one of the poorer attempts at integrating the two types of architecture.

On a much brighter note, the detailing was inspiring. I wonder how long it must have taken to design such details and if the architects did both the general AND detail design...I don't know if that type of detail is even done anywhere these days. This also has a Christian cross thrown in there under the left arch.