Most people I talked to are surprised that with 130 countries visited I have not visited Spain. It is not through lack of interest on the contrary I have an intense interest in this vibrant country with great history, culture and cuisine. It just never fitted into previous itineraries.In many ways starting in northern Europe it is still not a neat fit but the time has come and it certainly does not disappoint.
Landing in Madrid I rent a car and head straight out to Cordoba. It is a 4 hour drive but the roads are good and the traffic benign, driving is easy. My plan is a round trip of Andalusia in the south an area fascinating because it was under Ottoman rule from the 8th century until the 13th century when Catholic kings reconquered the area.
The result is a beautiful “fusion” of Islamic and western Renaissance architecture. Perhaps the most “crazy” is in Cordoba. In 785 Abd-al-Rahman 1 built a massive mosque. In 1236 AD the conquering Catholic Spanish rulers built an enormous Renaissance style Catholic church in the middle of it keeping the Islamic periphery intact. The result is a veritable forest of 856 columns with red and white striped arches alongside a central 16th century Renaissance nave known as Mesquita.
