Centre of Andalusia - Carmona and Cordoba enroute to Granada
After the south of Spain it was time to make our way through the centre - with Granada being our next base for 2 nights. Along the way we had to stop by Cordoba and so also decided to see a small white town just off the highway - Carmona.
Just as in Italy while driving through Tuscany all you see our vineyards. In Spain driving through this northern region of Andalusia all you is olive plantations. Throughout the drive all we could see were hills and hills covered with olive trees. So very different form that of South of Spain. While listening to some very interesting Spanish radio stations, which I have to admit played some good music when we caught the right frequency, we take our detour to the small white village of Carmona.
It is small quaint town but with some really nice monuments as well and worth a diversion if you have the time. We managed to squeeze in an hour and make it to the top of the Alcazar which is only €3 and so worth the views. You get to see a 360 degree view of Andalusia along with this white town and it's houses flanked across the hill. The planes look like a carpet as the lonely planet describes it which is so accurate especially when you see the sun's rays touching various corners of the fields. It's was well worth the quick pull over.
Our next spot was Cordoba and the Mezquita. Again driving through the siesta peak we make it to Cordoba by 3 or so ready to make our way through this mosque come cathedral. It was a bit of a trek to make it with this car as roads were dug up and we ended up walking a good 20 mins from our parking spot. Again so glad I was with my sisters who can deal with my neurotics in times like this. I'm terrible at parking but my sis is a pro since she drives to work everyday, making us a good tag team on the journey.
Again some good dogging skills of the sun have been proclaimed during this walk and us making our way to the entrance of the Mezquita. Originally built as a Catholic Christian church, it was converted into a Islamic Mosque in the middle ages and then after the Reconquista it was made a Catholic Christian church once again. You enter this monument and the first thing that hits you when stepping out of the 45 degree sun is how dark and cool this place is. It's high ceiling flanked with rows and rows of double arched columns made for a dazzling view.
The history of this now Church is evident in the architecture as the original Islamic prayer room is still preserved and its numerous expansions over the centuries is very interesting as it is one of the few monuments that has both religions under one roof. Spending a good 2 hours going through this we had passed the siesta time and made our way back into the daylight. Needing a bit of a site down and a refresher meal, we managed to get back to the car ready though already tired way to Granada.
The drive sure took longer than anticipated, probably more so cause of the stops we made thought completely worthwhile. a good 3 hours later we manage to make our way to Granada and successfully find a park just outside the center of the city at Parking San Agustin and since we realised we need to walk to our apartment indicating carrying all our luggage up a hilly road, we removed only 3 nights worth of clothes into our smaller, handy country road bags and headed in to see this crazy popular city sitting atop a hill!
