las piedras de cordoba

I had originally planned to stay near Barcelona for the duration of the Barcelona Foto Biennale but found myself too eager to see the rest of the country and besides that, I’m too much of a small town gal to be content with long stays in big cities. Traveling in Spain with a dog has its limitations, unfortunately. For all the happy dogs trotting around everywhere, Spain is the least dog-friendly country in Western Europe when it comes to public transportation. Although I had no problems taking Luna on the underground metro within Barcelona… I was disappointed to learn that she would not be allowed on Renfe trains long distance across Spain. I contemplated stuffing Luna into my backpack like I’ve done with bike panniers, but I worried a little about what might happen if they discovered I’d snuck my dog onto the train. And because I had yet to discover the ride share network BlaBlaCar (SO BRILLIANT and more about this to come) I felt I had little choice but to rent a car so that’s what I did. Compared to the States it is remarkably affordable to rent a car in Europe if you choose a main hub to rent from and return the car to the same place. I took the metro to the airport in Barcelona and rented a budget car from Sixt. If I had known about BlaBlaCar I would have never done this as renting a car seems such a silly and wasteful luxury for a solo traveler and just not my style.

Nevertheless, Luna and I were super comfy as we set out cross-country to visit the Heslops, dear friends from Washington who recently moved to Rota, on the southwestern coast of Spain. It takes about twelve hours to get from Barcelona to Rota so I decided on a stop-over in Cordoba, a small city in central Spain and not far south of Madrid. Steeped in a rich history, Cordoba was at different times the capital of a Roman province, the capital of an Arab state, and an Islamic Calphiate. I knew I needed to see its stones with my own eyes…

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I arrived at Cordoba after dark, which was a dramatic introduction to its infrastructure. I went for an hour’s walk around the city and admired it under the flood lights. Spain’s cities come alive at night, so there were lots of people out and about, doing the same thing as me.

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Cordoba was built alongside the Guadalquivir River which is shallow and muddy and spreads out into marshes. An enormous Roman bridge spans the river and provides the main access for foot traffic to this day. I stayed in a cheap hotel outside the city where I could leave the car parked the next day, and walked a few kilometers into the city on foot. I happened to be there on Spain National Day, which wasn’t great timing on my part because it was very, very crowded with people. I didn’t stay long in Cordoba because of this, but I had a lot of fun wandering the narrow streets for a few hours and gazing upwards in astonishment at its medieval moats and towers. It was very hot, despite being October, and I read later that the city is known for having the hottest temperatures on the European continent.

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The Mezquita, an Islamic mosque circa 786, is the main attraction of Cordoba and I recommend seeing it during the off season and/or not on a Spanish national holiday. The square was so packed with people outside that I didn’t even attempt the line to go inside. The mosque was expanded upon during Cordoba’s Muslim era and later, during the Christian Reconquista, it underwent the odd addition of a cathedral in its very center. It’s a fascinating mixture of architecture that I didn’t give myself nearly enough time to take in. I was sweating in the heat of the square and felt closed in by too many people.

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Amidst the crowds of tourists on the bridge was this man playing an accordion. The sight of him fit perfectly with the vibe of the city but made the crowds of tourists with their cell phones and screaming babies seem more abrasive than ever before. His music was beautiful, and sorrowful, and I was swept away with thoughts of what life was like here in a time that’s long gone by…

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I escaped the chaos of the mosque square to wander some of its adjoining streets. By that time it was nearing 2pm when Spanish cities shut down for siesta…

I spent some time visiting the carriage horses where they waited to take tourists on rides through the cobblestoned streets. Most people are well meaning when they book a carriage but are too ignorant to know that the majority of carriage horses the world over have very, very sad lives. After a lifetime of connecting with horses it takes just one glance at their eyes for me to know whether they are happy in their work or are being forced into it and in pain of some kind. Horses are such quiet, gentle giants with the big, peaceful hearts of herbivorous creatures. Humans just plain don’t deserve the servitude we put them through and if people don’t know better then they need to be told so. In Cordoba I saw carriage horses who were underweight, under muscled, and suffering from equipment that didn’t fit properly. And no wonder, as they spend all day on cobblestones and pavement, shod in metal shoes so that the bones, tendons, and ligaments of their legs absorb the concussion of their weight. Think about how painful your body would be if you spent all day hauling humans around with metal shoes on your feet, a metal bit in your mouth, and in harnessing that rubs raw spots in your armpits, on your shoulder blades, along your spine and the bone behind your ears…

In contrast to the sad faces on horses were all the happy faces on dogs! Spain is full of jubilant dogs with proud owners and it makes me smile to see them everywhere I go! I ask permission to take photos of people’s dogs and here in Spain my request is often met with an eagerness to tell me all about them and help by making the dog pose for its photos. I LOVE THIS, obviously, for there seems no end to the doggie photo ops at hand, and for the way it makes me feel instantly at home in places I’ve never been before. We may not share a language (yet…) but we share a love of dogs and that in itself is fodder for fast friendships ;)

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Since my short time in Cordoba I have traveled the length of Spain several times in several weeks! I have so many new images that are already dear to my heart… so stay tuned for love letters to donkeys and self-portraits without clothes on ;)