Portugal and Spain trip day 4: Cordoba to Grenada

 We had time this morning to wander through the old city of Cordoba, getting slightly lost in the Jewish Quarter's narrow, winding streets - whatever did people do before GPS and Google Maps?

We also visited the Mosque-Cathedral located directly across from our hotel on a very narrow street. So narrow that the early morning food and beverage delivery vans blocked the sidewalk (itself barely wide enough for one person) and most of the street. 

The Mosque-Cathedral is built on a site of a Visigothic Christian basilica. The Muslims who conquered this area in the 8th century built the mosque in 785, and it was expanded throughout the years into the 19th century. It was converted to a cathedral in 1236 when Cordoba was captured by Christians and reconstruction continues today.

The outside walls are virtually unchanged, and the inside retains beautiful mosque features along with the Christian cathedral that was built in the middle of the mosque. Many of the inside walls are lined with ornately designed small chapels.

doors to the Christian part of the building

one of the small ornate chapels

We left Cordoba about noon, riding out of the city toward Grenada under cloudy skies that threatened rain.

Almost the entire 120 mile ride today was through rolling hills covered with olive trees.

We continue to see walled castles on top of several high hills, and stopped in one - Baena - for coffee. 

Uwe, our motorcycle group tour leader, is a pro at navigating his way through the narrow, winding, and often very steep streets of these small towns before we get back on the 2-lane paved highways that wind through the increasingly mountainous countryside.

We were amazed at the number of olive trees and olive oil production facilities we saw until we learned that Spain is the largest producer of olive oil in the world. Every lunch and dinner we've had so far in Spain includes small dishes of olives brought to the table for appetizers and a bottle of olive oil to sprinkle over the meal.

We've had just about perfect motorcycle riding weather with temperatures in the high 60's into the high 70's. Although the overcast skies today meant that we couldn't see the higher mountain peaks in the distance, we really enjoyed riding on the curving roads up and down the hills and valleys.

We stopped under a bridge right before lunch to put on raingear, and it continued to rain off and on until we reached Grenada. We're staying here for 2 nights so that we can explore the Alhambra, the largest political and aristocratic center in the western Muslim world in the 13th-15th centuries, and the old city center of town tomorrow.