A Rainy Day

Hoy, hay lluvia. It is raining in Madrid. And oh, how I love a dreery day. Just every once in awhile.

As we walked to school in the rain, I couldn’t help but sing those infamous words of Eliza Doolittle, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!” I am not sure where the plain in Spain is located, and maybe it doesn’t exist, because I recall it was a phrase created to help poor Eliza with proper English. But regardless of intention, I thought about it, and sang about it. And I thought I would tell you!

So on this perfectly dreery day, we are reading and studying in our cozy apartment and I would love to tell you about the rest our weekend in Andalusia.

Our travels did not end with Sunday’s Easter celebration; we planned a stop in Córdoba, Spain en route back to Madrid. Córdoba is an ancient city, with Roman ruins to boot. The most famous attraction there is La Mezquita, originally a church in the Roman Empire, then a mosque during Moorish occupation, and now, a grand cathedral in the Catholic tradition.

After another short train on Spain’s highly efficient AVE, we headed directly to La Mezquita. According to our trusty travel book, the cathedral is free before 10 AM, so we ran to save our Euros. Sadly, it was free before 9:30 AM. But all’s well. We now know that we can run with packs in the event of an emergency!

We spent several hours soaking up the ancient beauty of La Mezquita. The architecture is a beautiful mix of simple, yet beautiful Islamic style and highly ornate Baroque style. Pictures below will do my description more justice. In addition to the history and art of La Mezquita, Alex found the ancient irrigation system in the cathedral’s courtyard fascinating. I think he misses our garden.

After devouring seemily every inch of the cathedral, we ventured beyond the ancient walls and explored a beautiful riverfront. We stopped and read in the afternoon sun. We also wandered through the Jewish quarter and more modern parts of Córdoba. We dined at a little haunt in the Jewish quarter. Sadly, the food anthropolgist in me discovered very mediocre food. But it was warm and satisfying.

By the time evening rolled around, clouds enveloped the Andalusian sky and opened. We again ran, although this time back to the train station. Thus, concluded a weekend full of discovery in southern Spain. Similar to our experience in Portugal, we would love to go back.

La Mezquita 

 Y mas Mezquita!

Andalusia lovers! 

I was planning to be a fashionista in Europe, but that's impractical. 

Local artisan working on his craft.

Ancient bridge. 

View of La Mezquita and ominous rain clouds.