Cordoba: Modern Shopping, a Sea of Pillars and Horseshoe Arches, and the Finest Dining in Andalucia
There are so many Cordoba attractions that it's hard to know where to start! Fine dining, shopping districts, Old Towns and ancient ruins are the spice of Andalucian life in Cordoba. This city’s seven hundred years as the greatest capital of the world are still everywhere you look. What will you see on your Cordoba holiday? Start with the Mezquita, but don’t stop there!
The Cordoba Mezquita
The Cordoba Mezquita is one of the most important sites in all of Spain. It took two hundred years to build this incredible house of worship, which was the second largest mosque in the world at the time. This magnificent structure is best known for the thousands of pillars, formed into the red and white horseshoe arches that have been photographed endlessly.
The Alcazar
The Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos or the Alcazar of Cordoba is a fortress in which King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella actually lived. It’s located close by the Mezquita and is defintely worth a visit. Just like the Mesquita, it was first a Visigoth site, in this case a fortress, then became used by the Moorish rulers of the caliphate as their palace (although the name is actually Arabic for walled fortress). Eventually it was taken over by the Catholic king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella. Its Arab baths, gardens, two towers and interesting history attract tonnes of tourists nearly every day. At one point, it was even a prison and the headquarters of the Inquisition.
Bridges and Water Wheels
Rio Guadalquivir's Roman bridge and restored Islamic water wheel will remind you of the sequences of Pirates of the Caribbean, where Jack Sparrow has to survive on top of a rolling, wooden version that could be the spitting image. See this wonderful site yourself.
Calle Gondomar
Calle Gondomar is the modern shopping district of Cordoba. Here high fashion shops will introduce you to today’s Cordoba, alongside locals and tourists who enjoy Spanish chic.
Eating Out in Cordoba
FINE AND FUN DINING: EAT IN A TYPICAL ANDALUCIAN EATERY, OR EVEN IN A FIFTEENTH CENTURY PALACE
El Caballo Rojo is considered to be one of the most popular restaurants in Andalucia, if not THE most popular. This Cordoba restaurant offers Sephardic and Mozararabic fare and consistently receives high ratings from reviewers. Patrons include royalty, and the celebrity set, which says a lot about the quality of the food on offer. However, the style of the restaurant is rather accessible, if perennially busy. It’s perfectly situated for tourists, as it’s close to the Mezquita, so make sure you sample its tasty Andalucian dishes.
The charming front entrance recreates the famous flowerpot walls over wrought iron windows and balconies, for which Andalucia and Cordoba are famous. Inside this famous Cordoba restaurant, you will find dishes like oxtail, lamb kidneys served in mature wine and desserts like almond and pine nut pie, almond rolls and angel’s hair cake - delicious!
See the restaurant’s website to judge the quaint beauty and menu for yourself, reservations are necessary. If you watch the intro, you’ll see the amazing sites of Cordoba as well as the restaurant’s entrance.
http://www.elcaballorojo.com/
La Alumudaina is quite the rival to El Caballo Rojo. Like the latter, it’s got a great location, being near the Alcazar, but it has one true advantage: here you’ll dine in a renovated 15th century palace with its own central courtyard on a river in the Jewish Quarter - wow!
This Cordoba restaurant is considered one of the loveliest restaurants in all of Andalucia with food that is renowned for its freshness and great taste. Pork tenderloins, fresh seafood and Iberian ham are some of the foods on offer here. If you wish to be treated like a king or queen in the proper setting, with a typical Andalucian atmosphere, you cannot do better in all of Spain.
See the website below, in Spanish, if you wish to take a look at this lovely Cordoba restaurant.
http://www.restaurantealmudaina.com/
Cordoba - A City of Wonder
Cordoba is a city whose modern shopping, ancient ruins and fine dining make one see why the Visigoths, Caliphs who ruled the world, and Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand chose to make this city one of their primary residences.
It’s been one of the most entrancing world capitals for thousands of years. Here, a trip gaping at wonders on one street after another will leave you feeling the same way.
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