Day 16 - Friday 13 July – Cordoba. 38C, cloudless day and hot once again. It is the week of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, so every morning over breakfast at 8am we watch on TV with amusement as the rocket fires the start and the bulls run through the streets chasing the crowds. Then the injury count starts, the cameras zoom in on the wounded – each one usually surrounded by 10 paramedics and 20 cameramen. Then a few minutes later a cross to the local hospital for a roundup of the dead and wounded – only one dead so far this week – a 73 year-old who had a heart attack…. quite a few with punctures (from horn tips) and a bunch with broken limbs (usually from tripping and not looking where they are going – hysterical….. Charles Darwin would have had to look no further for proof of his theory of survival of the fittest…… Our morning began early as the Fortress of the Christian Kings had free entry from 8.30am – 10am so we began our day there. As we were about to leave the main fortress we noted that we were pleased it was free as there wasn't much to see besides a good view of the town from the top of the tower, but then, we walked into the gardens – and they were magnificent and extensive. They had used a series of fountains which lead down pathways to hedges and topiary which was very pretty and of course statues of Isabella and Ferdinand with Christopher Columbus. We don’t need for them to be labelled anymore as we can spot them at a distance of at least 500 metres.

The Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral opened at 10am so that was our next stop. It is truly amazing inside and have not seen anything quite like it before. It is enormous and they use a lot of natural light inside, we saw the different sections built by the 4 sultans and the Christian cathedral that now stands in the middle. There was a lot to take in and the arches that make it unique are very colourful. There are some funny stories around it too, the first three areas built by the first three sultans make up around 50% of the current cathedral. The 4th sultan thought he had better add a bit too, so he added just about the total area again in these coloured arches, but because his rule was waning and he had pressing financial demands to fund armies to keep the Christians away, instead of using brick and marble in alternate arches as per the original arches, he just used bricks and painted them to look like marble…..

Again, another very hot day, so have not been wandering too far from the apartment, heading back frequently for air-conditioning and frequent cups of tea.