5 Reasons Why Cordoba Is My Favourite Place, Cordoba, Spain

There are few regions in Europe with more to offer than Andalusia in the south of Spain. I had the good fortune of visiting Andalusia a few years ago and it simply blew me away. While there I was able to stop in at a bunch of different places, but one place there I’ve long wanted to recommend is the city of Cordoba. For this part of Spain, big cities like Seville and Granada - plus the beaches along the coast - get most of the attention. Cordoba isn’t exactly overlooked but it usually plays second fiddle to those big name destinations.

In my mind, there’s no doubt that Cordoba should be on your Spain itinerary. It seems some travellers aren’t sure whether they should make time to see Cordoba. Let’s put that to rest - you should go. Even if it’s your first time in Spain, I highly recommend visiting Cordoba because it’s culturally fascinating and has loads to do. It showcases the best sides of Spain, bar the beaches, and does so without feeling busy or overwhelming. Let me get into greater detail with the below reasons.

Just as people visit Granada to see the Alhambra and visit Ronda to see the Puente Nuevo, so too do people come to Cordoba to the Mezquita. Also known as the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, this storied building is one of the essential places to visit in Cordoba. From the outside, the shape of the building with its flying buttresses give the building its cathedral look, but that is much more to it than that. You only need to head inside for proof of that. You see, the Mezquita has a history of being a mosque or cathedral depending on who controlled the city. It’s believed that the first house of worship here was a church, which was torn down to make way for a mosque around 784 AD. This was after the Muslim conquest of the region and the creation of the Emirate of Córdoba. Functioning as a mosque for centuries, it only became a Christian place of worship again after the Reconquista in 1236. While changes were made to the building after that, there’s much of the Mezquita that retains the design of the original mosque. The Mezquita is best known for its endless striped archways that are stunning to look through. All over the place you’ll find intricate Islamic art, the kind of Moorish details you still see today in Morocco. But then there are the Christian elements too, like the altar and choir stalls that sit in the centre, completely at odds with the halls around them. I’m pretty ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).