On our last day in Spain, Mike and I went out with a flourish. As it happened, the annual Cordoba fair was occurring while we were in town. It was huge with a big carnival, food and festivities. But I get ahead of myself.
Our first experience with Cordoba was their top attraction, the Mezquita Cathedral. It was originally built as a mosque starting in the 1st century and expanded under three leaders to hold over 4,000 worshipers. Later it was converted to a Catholic cathedral complete with a renaissance dome. The mosque portion consists of column after column of double arches on slender marble columns with deep russet stripes. It is dark and takes a bit of adjusting to – mostly because of the vast size. 
The center section has a “new” tower of heavy ornamentation and floor plan of a typical cathedral but this one sits squarely in the middle of a mosque. The effect, for me, was disconcerting. With a few steps you could feel the juxtaposition between the architectural styles and the feelings they create. The building had a split personality. 
Thankfully, the most beautiful section of the original mosque was preserved. It was delicate and intricate in its ornamentation with a subtly crafted dome covered in mosaics. It was lovely. Once again, I felt that the newer Renaissance portion felt overdone like it was trying too hard. However, others who were visiting seemed captivated and more comfortable in that portion. 
We spent some time wandering the labyrinth of streets in Cordoba. Too narrow for cars, it was even difficult to navigate on foot and maintain our orientation. The cathedral wasn’t even visible from street level because of the tall, white buildings on all sides. We toured their Alcazar, an old military fort where Ferdinand and Isabel planned the overthrow of the Moors. The building contained beautiful mosaics, old picture-book towers and the original baths. The baths were in the basement and felt maze-like, dank and a little scary.
Once again, there were classes of school children touring the building. As we left the baths, we literally ran into (or they ran into us) a group of 5-6 year olds. My darling husband, who retains much of his childhood experiences, took the opportunity to issue several spooky, “oooooohhhhhs.” The kids, who were Spanish speaking, immediately picked it up. As they rounded the bend we could hear them all repeating, “oooooohhhhh.” I’m sure their teachers appreciated his help! 
Behind this building we found a jewel-like garden. By now, you’re probably tired of hearing me rattle on about the gardens, but this one was truly special - really. It was small in comparison to the ones in Barcelona and Madrid but it was filled with charm. Long narrow pools were surrounded by bright flowers and a few carefully placed sculptures. Between the pools, the grounds were carefully landscaped with intricate boxwood hedges that contained beds of poppies, marigolds, roses, geraniums, and artichokes. Isles of lemon and orange trees completed the scene with lemons littered across the ground. We wandered the grounds for an hour in the cool morning sun. From there, our day didn’t go quite as we expected…and it couldn’t have been better. We never found the synagogue and the museum we wanted to see was unexpectedly closed due to the “feria” which we would understand later.
In the meantime, we kept seeing women in brightly colored traditional dress. Some were walking and others were in festive horse-drawn carriages. They seemed to be going somewhere, but where? We finally caught up with two pretty young girls who spoke some English. Turns out that “feria” is fair - duh. This was festival week in Cordoba. The girls gave us directions and off we went!
We followed the crowds across the river to huge fairgrounds. Women in their dresses were everywhere! It was quite a sight. No matter the age, the women and girls were “Dressed.”
I’m still not sure how they could eat anything in those tight dresses. They managed somehow and I had to chuckle at the cluster of women around the chocolate churro booth. Chocolate crosses cultural lines!
Babies in carriages were encased in ruffles that wouldn’t quite fit inside the stroller. They had shoes to match and dangling earrings – yes, on the babies! Mother and daughters were dressed in matching outfits and everyone was happy to have their picture taken. They all knew they looked beautiful! I was so entranced by their dresses that we took tons of photos. (I’ll include some of my favorites. You can skip them if you get tired of pretty girls and dresses!)
In one tent, I asked to photograph three young women. Then Mike jumped into the photo with them – he’s no dummy. Then the security guard got into the photo! Everyone was having a good time.
We saw dance troupes of little girls performing flamenco dances. Little 5 year old girls were swishing their skirts, stomping their feet and tossing their heads in time with the music. It was the cutest thing ever! We sat for hours watching these kids perform. The little boys were also dressed in traditional costumes of grey striped pants, scarf around their waist, white ruffled shirt with suspenders and a matching grey striped page-boy cap. This was clearly an “event” that everyone prepared for.
We loved watching the women dancing in their fancy outfits. No matter the age or body shape, women were in these bright, festive dresses – and dancing away. They all learn the same dances as kids so everyone joined in. Mike managed to video one group until I couldn’t resist any more and had to join in, too. They were very nice to accommodate someone who hadn’t the slightest notion of the proper steps. It was very fun and Mike even joined the dancing. Unfortunately, there was no one to video tape that. I think he enjoyed being the only man and they doted on him! He was in heaven.
The fair grounds were made up of large tents each containing food, a dance floor and very loud music. You wandered in and out as you wished- drinking, eating and dancing. One tent was playing a Spanish version of Donna Summer’s “I Will Survive.” Through it all, horse drawn carriages pulled ladies around, laughing and singing. Men rode elegant Andalusian horses around the grounds, prancing as they went. But there was a fun mix of tradition and new – typified by a young, traditionally dressed horseman who was texting as he rode! It was an unbelievable scene.
On the other side of the fair grounds was the carnival filled with typical rides, fair games and even cotton candy but with dressier patrons. The other tents had traditional Spanish food – tortillas (egg and potato frittata), roasted Serrano peppers, Manchego cheese, Iberian ham, shrimp, langoustines, gazpacho, samlerjo (cold tomato, garlic soup) and, of course, beer and wine. All in all, it was a wonderful and unexpected afternoon and evening. Those are the best kind. It created the perfect ending to our trip.
Mike and I talked about our top highlights of our time in Spain. Here’s the list:
- Spanish guitar concert in Barcelona
- Picnic at the Prado and street dancers in Madrid
- Flamenco in Sevilla
- Alcazar in Sevilla
- Bird nesting on top of the church in Arcos
- Spanish horses in Jerez
- And the best of the best, the festival in Cordoba When we reflect on these highlights, we realize that the experiences stand out, more so than seeing the sights (with the exception, for me, of the Alcazar in Sevilla). It’s participating in life that makes it so enriching.
With that thought, we started our journey back to France. We took with us wonderful experiences from our time in Spain and a better appreciation for the Spanish culture and the warmth of the people. And we’re glad to go “home” but it took some doing to get there.
Our train left at 7AM from Cordoba. We arrived comfortably in advance at 6AM to make sure all was fine with our train tickets. The train station was dark and locked when we arrived! The security guards let us in. I’ve never been in a train station with absolutely no other people. It was 6:30AM before other people started arriving. The shops never opened before we left so Mike missed his morning cup of strong Spanish coffee. It took five train changes before we arrived back in Avignon at 9PM. Thankfully, we had a hotel next to the train station. 
We stopped in Isle-sur-l’Sorgue on our way home and it was market day! Yippee! There are no markets in Spain and we missed the fresh fruits and veggies. We were able to shop and enjoy a yummy lunch sitting at a café next to the Sorgue River. Plus, Mike got a new hat! It was a perfect welcome back. What could be better? 
Well, we found out. When we arrived at our house in Cotignac, the roses bushes around the house were in full bloom and were bent over with so many blossoms. They were just begging to be cut – so I did. That evening, after unpacking and starting laundry, we fixed huge fresh salads for dinner – something we’d missed in Spain. It was warm and we sat outside with our salads, cheese, olives and fresh bread for Mike and with a bouquet of roses. And it was a full moon. What a wonderful welcome. 
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