so arrived in cordoba today
the train from seville had this sports team that looked like rugby players got on
all kneeling on their seats and shouting up and down the carriage
was like i was in a sports bar, thank god i got off at cordoba

so they have a cordoba card for $50 which gives u free access to everything
i dont know why i didnt buy it online, i thought it would be easier at the tourist office in the train station.. when i get there she says they only sell it online and it never said that on their website..

this hostel is not manned and has a check in kiosk like in the airport terminals.. so i had to leave my luggage and come back later... first place i went was to the mosque.. this place is huge the size of a walmart store... wonder how they used to fill it.. it was built in different stages and u can tell from the pillars the different ages of each section.. the centre is the cathedral portion.. the mihrab is still there and has all the quranic writing... make a six minute movie with my camera as i still had my backpack with me so might as well.. will post on youtube when i get back

outside there is a halal moroccan restaurant. full feel with the pillows, drapes, and lanterns.. so i had chicken kafta with rice.. tomorrow i´ll go back again... they really play up their arabic past here and a lot of houses are decorated like that.

like most places, cordoba was first a roman town and the muslims continued to build up..
they ruled for about 500 years from the 8th to 13th century
they restored the old roman bridge and water wheels... cordoba was renound throughout the muslim world as a centre of learning in sciences, medicin, biology, astronomy, geometry, mathamatics.. many arabic words are from this period such as al-gebra, al-chemy, al-gorithm.... it was connected to the rest of the muslim world such as damascus and baghdad.. jews and christians all lived together and northern european scholars that would come would marvel at the street lighting and running water which was unheard in northern europe. again its a flat compact town which is easy on the legs

visiting some of the houses you are timewarped like the turkish houses in sarajevo.. they have a jewish house and a muslim house which have all the period furniture... did a lot of walking and the muslim past is evident everywhere... actually found a real mosque wondering around but i was wearing shorts so couldnt go in to pray..

there is a lot of the roman past here too.. went to the archeological museum.. will play along with this free for EU citizens thing and say i´m from england.. they are not always checking for <id so might as well save some money. tomorrow which i think will be eid, i will take the bus to the palace of medinat azhara, this was their versailles... and is also free for EU citizens... am going to wonder around at night for a bit