Spain and Portugal 2026 – what’s not to like? Part Four – Cordoba

The drive onwards to the Southern city of Cordoba is a really nice, easy and scenic route.

We had two options – straight down the autovias for 2 hrs and 30 mins or a nice detour which takes 3 hours. We took option B.

Within 15 minutes we were out of Ciudad Real and motoring along at speeds of up to 120kms/hr legally. The traffic was extremely light and other road users were very polite and patient. The roads smooth as glass.

Then the speed limits bounced around randomly between 20kms/hr for road work then 70, 80, 90, 100 or 120kms/hr for reasons only known to the speed sign gurus.

The scenery was beautiful – I’ve never seen so many olive trees, even in Greece. Citrus, stone fruit, nuts all grown as far as the eye could see. The landscape is pretty flat with only the occasional hill to pass over.

There are also multiple solar farms, some of the biggest I’ve ever seen, and most of them are on private farm land where sheep and cattle are grazing. What a fabulous secondary income for the farmers.

Lots of little villages popping up along the way which looked like postcards.

We arrived in Cordoba without one minute of stress. That all ended pretty quickly.

The apartment we are staying in is situated inside the Old Town and the private car park sits just outside the old town maybe 300m from the apartment.

The owner gave me directions to get to the car park and that’s when it all went pear shaped. My mouth went dry and my palms sweating profusely driving down these tiny lanes barely wide enough to get a motorcycle down with sharp almost hair pin bends at every corner. Good grief !

The owner met us at the car park and it took probably 15 minutes of toing and froing to manoeuvre the car into the car park entrance that seemed about half the width of the car. Then I had to get it into the specific parking bay. He thought it was hysterical. I used up all of my swear words in any language that I know for a week.

Off to the apartment which is in a very old building in the centre of the Old Town in a gorgeous little plaza with Osteria, tabernas, tapas bars all over.

We had to go through four locked doors inside the building to get to the apartment – security is paramount and we have a key ring bigger than a prison warden.

The apartment is great – kitchen, Lou he area, do I g area, good sized bathroom and bedroom with stacks of storage.

And the mural on the lounge room wall has to be seen to be believed. Michelangelo would be proud of it

Ahhh the serenity !

Cordoba has a population of 325,000 and it is the third largest city in Andalusia behind Malaga and Seville. the 12th largest in Spain.

I love it !

It sits in the far south of Spain in the Iberian Peninsula and was originally a Roman Colony but was overthrown by the Muslims in the 8th Century. By the tenth century it was the second largest city in Europe. there is evidence of life in the region as early as 106 BC.

Following a Christian conquest in 1236 leadership changed again and a large number of Jews came to the area.

And now, the old town has many traces of the three cultures all working as one.

The most important structure is no doubt the Cathedral-Mosque which sits on the Guadalquivir River. A magnificent bridge crosses the river and is known as the Roman Bridge

Views back toward the Cathedral-Mosque are simply stunning

The Mosque was built under Islam rule in the 700s and was one of the largest in the world for many centuries.

With each new leader came an expansion to the site until the Christian Conquest saw the mosque converted and consecrated into a Catholic cathedral.

It underwent some significant renovations in the 1600’s but today remains very close to the original plan

Karen and I have been very fortunate to visit some of the world’s great Churches, Mosques, Temples, Cathedrals across the world. I didn’t need to check this r out. But we did.

And ….. I must admit it’s is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places of worship I’ve ever seen on the inside. Has to be considered right alongside the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul

The blend of Islam and Catholicism has never been better achieved.

I could add another hundred photos here but they just don’t do it justice. It’s massive in size. Just magnificent, and to think masses are conducted many times a week even now is just brilliant.

We wandered back to our apartment and it was about 7pm and it seemed that every single Cordoban was out and about. The vibe was electric and it was Tuesday night. Families with kids of all ages, couples and anyone else was finding any spare seat at an open air taberna to sit and enjoy the mild spring night

So we joined in. And what better view from our table than a Roman archaeological site across the plaza which is literally at our apartment front door.

One drink led to two and maybe a third and all of a sudden it was 9pm and we stayed at the same place for dinner and what was to be the best on tour so far.

Karen had tempura eggplant with a balsamic glaze sauce – how good does it look?

And I had a marinated pork loin charred on a hibachi with hand cut chips and veges.

Goodness me. One of the finest cuts of meat I’ve ever tasted.

When the bill came we’d had (plenty of/maybe too much) beer, wine, vermouth, more red wine and the magnificent food for a cost of approx $80 AUD. How do they do it?

It helps when a large glass of sensational wine costs €3.20 ($5.20 AUD) and a pint of draft beer €3.50 ($5.50 AUD)

Luckily we were right at our apartment to stumble through the four locked doors and up the shaky old lift to our third floor apartment.

A great day and a super night sleep.

Day two was a bit slow starting but we had bought coffee and breakfast stuff for the apartment which was a great start to the day.

We headed out mid morning walking sort of aimlessly through the alley ways and Labyrinthian lanes of the old town looking for the Juderia or the old Jewish Quarter neighbourhood formed when Jews moved to Cordoba between the 10th and 15th Centuries.

Meandering though the narrow laneways is such a lovely experience

Just gorgeous. So we found a lovely plaza – there are hundreds of them scattered around – to people watch and relax. Of course that means a refreshment.

So Karen felt like a nice refreshing glass of Sangria as the temps were starting to warm up.

So we ordered “Una copa de sangría por favor” which was understood. And also a beer and some patatas bravas.

This was her small glass of Sangria

Haha. A small sangria. Brilliant. €4.50

Everyone has their own version of patatas bravas and none are bad.

A bloke playing violin, people meandering about laughing and chatting, eating and drinking.

I think I could learn to like this lifestyle.

Our last night in Cordoba we wanted to do something a bit different – so we went to the Caballerizas Reales or the Royal Stables of Cordoba to watch an Andalusian horse equestrian show called Passion and Spirit of the Andalusian Horse

The stables were built in 1570 and have been continuously used since then, training and performing the bred for purpose Spanish Andalusian horses. The stables and performance ring has remained the same for over 400 years. Beautiful.

What a great night!