One of the more touristy things we did was a bus trip to Córdoba, another site of many antiquities about an hour and a half drive from Sevilla. The Romans were here, later Moors held the site for about 700 years until they were finally kicked out in 1492. And all those influences were still visible in the site.
 |
| Ironically, on our way to see the very old, we were captivated by the very new. This is a massive solar-power installation using "molten salt" technology; many parabolic mirrors on the ground focused on this tower; you can read about it here. |
 |
| Science nerd alert! This is a publicity photo of the mirror array for the solar power tower above. |
The city had sun-baked streets ...
 |
| It was a blazing 42 degrees C (yeah, 107 F) and overpriced ice cream was on our agenda! |
 |
| Immediately to my right shoulder out of the photo is the shop where I bought my favourite souvenir of the trip, a tiny silver filigree replica of a galleon. |
 |
| Amazing that the tree looks so healthy surrounded by all that sun-baked stone. |
... and shady gardens ...
I'm so used to statues of war heroes, generals on their stallions. And my mental frame of the Moorish invaders was also harsh and warlike. So I was delighted to see these statues, not to war heroes, but to scholars and doctors. They're holding books, not swords.
 |
| Ibn Hazm[a] (November 994 – 15 August 1064) was an Andalusian Muslim historian, traditionist, jurist, philosopher, and theologian. |
 |
| Here's another science nerd alert: a statue to Ibn Rushd. He was a true polymath, with knowledge, expertise and genuine contributions to philosophy, Islamic law (jurisprudence), medicine, astronomy, mathematics, physics and geography. Not surprisingly, he became known as the “Prince of Science.” |
 |
| I couldn't have done this better if I'd planned it. Mohamed Al-Ghafiqi (sp?) is the doctor who invented eyeglasses. (The Spanish word for eyeglasses, gafas, is derived from his name.) Here, the guide is explaining that, pointing at the statues .... with his sunglasses! |
 |
| A heritage trail with things of significance to Jews who were kicked out of Spain in 1492 along with the Muslims, is marked by this palm-sized decoration set in the pavement. It contains the word "Sephard" (Jew from Spain/Portugal) written in stylized Hebrew letters, in the shape of the Iberian peninsula. Even now, over 500 years later, anyone who can show their heritage as descendants of those people, is entitled to return fast track to citizenship and EU passport. |
 |
| This small house of worship has, over its long history, been used by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Traces of all 3 religions remain; this photo shows the traditionally Islamic arches and Hebrew letters. |
The next set of photos show one of the biggest attractions in the historic tour and I've provided a link for more exploration -- a massive structure that was a mosque, then a cathedral. (Our pictures really do not convey the massiveness of this building; follow the link for more.)
No comments:
Post a Comment