And we’re off to Andalusia ….

Now before I tell you about our trip ( no , not that sort of a trip Dear Reader – the sort you’d send a post card from) I felt I should reassure you about my state of health. My last blog detailed my attempts at a backward triple salchow- unintentional and failed miserably . BIL – you remember ( not his real name …short for ….. oh come on you know, the DB’s brother….what???? Who is the DB ? Unforgivable – mental note , memory training required…the Dearly Beloved of course! ) anyway back to the BIL who said the chicken bhuna (that I must have tried to save before backwards I went – thank goodness I did because the chicken bhuna, cast iron casserole and wooden board could well have made a nasty mess of me had they followed me down the stairs) OK so where was I? Oh yes BIL…he said the curry looked like a Jackson Pollock on the wall……so I had asked the DB to download me a “ Jackson Pollock “ painting ( I confess up until my fall I had never heard of him) so I could share it with you . Well I forgot …

Anyway never mind Jackson Pollock on the wall, I can match that on me….

Can you see one of those photos hanging in the National Gallery – Jackson Pollock eat your heart out I say!!!

Please don’t worry….they look aweful – testament to the injury I’m afraid…but I’ve been a good patient ( even though I haven’t seen a doctor ) and have moved and exercised every day and I am well on the mend now . Reassurance over let’s go South !

Last year I went with two of my cousins on a road trip to Granada and Cordoba ….there’s a blog in itself …did I mention the underpants ? No, best not just yet ….although they might have been Ralph Lauren….no matter, get back to where you were……..🤔🤔….oh yes …our trip last year . Well, I fell in love with Cordoba and decided that I wanted to take the DB there as part of his birthday celebrations ….yes it is a special year starts with a 7 and ends with a 0 ….have you got it? Well so it’s special. My intrigue with Cordoba began long ago following a conversation with my lovely friend Marylin ( who tragically died after falling backwards off a very large step ….no more to say on that) who had been to Cordoba for the Patios Festival. I’ll say no more at the moment on this because I have photos to share with you . Back to last year’s road trip, and my cousin Diana had organised a local guide to show us the city ( as an aside, if you’re going anywhere do get a local guide, you’ll learn so much more – it doesn’t have to be a personal tour, groups are also very good) anyway, I digress . Our local guide was called Barry…….local ….doesn’t sound very Spanish 🧐🧐🧐never mind , he was brilliant, a lover of history and had lived in Spain for more than 20 years …..Anyway, the only reason I’m telling you about Barry is that when I suggested to him about wanting to bring the DB to Cordoba for the Patios Festival , he looked at me questionably and said “ Really?”

At the end of our tour ( which incidentally was the last week in April) he explained that there were patios open to visit then …and we visited 3 or 4 . He also pointed out that during the festival there could be up to 130,000 people in any one of the small streets ( mental note , the DB wouldn’t hang around) and you could wait for up to 3 hours to visit one patio ( waste of time then …no chance of the DB waiting …nor me for that matter ) Also hotels and restaurants bump up their prices ….of course they do! they have a target audience . All in all, a no brainer….return next year, same time get tickets for a few of the patios and everyone is happy ….I mean do you really want to see 50 patios and, more to the point , pay inflated prices? Remember where the DB’s from …Yorkshire…and I was asking BIL too….he’s also from Yorkshire…..

And so it came to pass that we set off on Wednesday 26 th April…….

The following photos come without explanation but are of the gardens of the Alcazar …

Not just any Roman column Dear Reader …this is an example of the history ( Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, Christians…) and consequent building layers of Cordoba … this column is 4 metres high yet we were at current ground level I’ll leave that to your imagination….

These horses are stallions ….they are not a walk over neither are they small…if they don’t want to do something, they won’t!. The relationship between rider and horse was obvious and powerful to see, they act as one and there is evident mutual respect . In one part of the show 4 grey horses come out with their rider/ handlers…each in turn performs this manoeuvre. However, one of them ( naughty school boy..) appeared not to be able to do it and kicked his back legs out as well as trying to rear up – he had two handlers with him so I assumed he was young – anyhow as we left I saw on one of the TV screens a mature horse performing the same manoeuvre so I guess the young one had the move nailed after all!

I promise I won’t go on about the horses…you may know they are one of my favourite animals…..but I need to point out one thing ….

So Friday dawns and we’re off to the other side of the river, crossing the Roman Bridge……

And so to the Mezquita for a guided tour ….a stunning building , full of history and guided by the wonderful Angel….Now my cousins and I visited this building last year, but the wonderful Barry was not qualified to be a guide there …apparently only the chosen few are. However, he gave us information and advice and in we toddled . One thing he did say was “ Don’t miss the cathedral, it is there in the middle.” Apparently he’d previously taken people there and told them about the cathedral and one came out to him and said “ Well I never saw a cathedral , are you sure there’s one there?”🙈🙈🙈🙈

Without boring, you the mosque was extended on four occasions. It was built using slave labour ….pillars of pink and black granite were removed from other buildings . All of different heights, so adjustments top and bottom were made …these fragile pillars were transported in rice to protect them. With each extension, money had to be saved , so the granite became of poorer quality and finally, rather than making the arches ( as seen below) with individual stones, they made them in one and painted them!!!…

I think all I want to say about this building is that it is proof that Muslims , Christians and Jews( there is a Star of David in the roof) got along in the past …..a lesson to us all.

So this afternoon we’re off to the patios…….

Seriously, I asked one of the owners how they look after their plants …the answer is watering every three days and an extendible ( very) ladder to remove dead flowers and leaves…this is not taken lightly, there are prizes up for grabs….

And so we leave Cordoba with views from our terrace ….

We had asked the taxi driver who brought us here to pick us up as he duly did….and we told him what a lovely time we’d had . At traffic lights, the guy in the car next to us asked our driver where he could park and our driver directed him appropriately. He then turned to us and said “ The Romans were very very clever but clearly they didn’t have cars!!!”

A lovely lovely time…memories made so I leave you with this …until next time 😘