The best things in life are free, so they say. On the whole I´m inclined to agree. Love, friendship, laughter…oh, and blog awards. They are all marvellous aren´t they? Linda from Savoring Every Bite very kindly passed The (Red) Educational Shoe award onto me.
I can fully understand why she was awarded it in the first place, do pop on over to learn so much about Italian family, culture, food and generally about making every little moment in life into a special memory. When Linda passed the award on, she mentioned some of the “travels” she had been on via my blog, so today we´re going travelling. To just outside the beautiful City of Cordoba to be precise. But before you pack your toothbrush I want to do the time honoured thing and pass this award on to a new blogging find.
JPWaldron has a fantastic blog which he calls “A free guide to foraging for all”. See, I told you the best things in life are free. If you live in the country, or aspire to or even just dream about it, I promise you´ll love what you find over there. And you´ll certainly learn a lot. I´m sure he won´t mind being sent a red high heeled shoe…I think it´s a metaphorical shoe after all!
So, Cordoba. I have a very soft spot for this beautiful city as Big Man and I had our first “date” there way back in September 2005. Can you date when you´re a grown up? I like to think so. Anyway, we go back there as often as we can and spent a fantastic weekend there at the end of January to celebrate my birthday. I´ll show you some photos of this amazing city another day.
Today we´re heading about 10km out of town to an amazing archaeological site, The Medina Azahara or Madinat al-Zahra. We´ve visited before, some 5 years ago and since our first visit an amazing vistor´s centre has been built and much more of this amazing abandoned city uncovered and restored. Unbelievably, it´s free to go in, if you are ever lucky enough to be in the area, make it a priority. It´s an incredible experience that you´ll always remember.
The city is considered to be one of the most important mediaeval archaeological sites in Spain. It covers 112 hectares and was the political and administrative capital of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) for a large part of the 10th Century.
There is something very special about this place, it never feels crowded and it´s easy to imagine the Caliph and his city doing business, receiving guests from around the world, and the thousands of servants keeping the city running.
There were several mosques, one of which can be seen clearly.
Stunning archways, this one they believe was the Prime Minister´s house.
Beautiful gardens…you can almost hear the trickle of water which flowed around the city.
So, do linger a while and soak up the peaceful atmosphere, and before you leave, take a final look back over the site and the city of Cordoba in the distance.
Hasta luego, come back soon…
Chica Andaluza 