Córdoba, Spain

Eric's mom came to visit for almost three weeks in October.  The weather was fantastic and we had a wonderful time.  Spent several days at the beach, she and I had fun dropping the kids off at school and shopping, relaxing--it was fabulous.  We also made time to do a little sightseeing.  One of the places we went was Córdoba.  Córdoba is interesting because was ruled by Romans, then Islams, and now Spain and has had people there forever--the Romans conquered it in 200 B.C.--it is unbelievable to be living in a place where there is so much history.  Anyways,. The most spectacular attraction is the Mezquita--a Islamic mosque converted to a Catholic Cathedral.  The Mezquita was started in the 700s and completed about 200 years later and then in the 1200's was converted to a Catholic cathedral after the city was conquered.  For being so old, the architecture is amazing.  It is unbelievable to see how detailed and intricate the work is, and just boggles my mind how they do it without all the fancy tools we have now days.  Anways, we had a great time.

Outside the city walls

Side of the cathedral

Inside the cathedral--covered with these arches, which were made from pieces of a roman temple that had previously occupied the site.

Looking at the original foundation from the visigoths.

Grandma and the kids

Love all these keystone doorways

This is all carved and this picture does no justice--it was so intricate.

The cathedral

There was this creepy guy that was one of the heads and he would yell at people and scare them--the kids and I thought it was hilarious.

Getting our picture with the creepy guy, but while we were getting our picture taken, he kept feeling up my leg--so he is a creepy, dirty man!

All over Spain they have these cutouts of a bull--just thought this was a pretty picture with the sunset.

They also have cutouts of Tio Pepe all over