The Guadalquivir river-bed is wide enough for small islands which today are only inhabited by birds. Long ago there used to be flour mills, of which some remains can still be seen to this day. The one near the north river bank was called Molino de la Albolafia.
Córdoba's old Jewish quarter consists of a fascinating network of narrow lanes, more atmospheric and less commercialised than in Seville although souvenir shops have emerged.
This Palace, which was declared a National Monument and important Artistic Garden, has a surface of 6,500 m2, more than half of which is occupied by the garden and the rest by a building with two floors and two little entresols.
The Tower of La Calahorra rises up at the south of the Roman bridge, the far end from the city centre. It is a fortified gate originally built by the Moors (Almohads) and extensively restored by King Enrique II of Castile in 1369 to defend the city from attack by his brother Pedro I the Cruel from the South. It was origionally an arched gate between two towers. Enrique II added a third cylindrical shaped tower connecting the outer two.
Museums in Cordoba City: Museo de Joyerá Regina, Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, Museo Arqueológico, Museo de Bellas Artes, Museo Julio Romero de Torres, Museo Diocesano de Bellas Artes, Museo Monográfico Madinat Al-Zahra and more.
At the north end of the Roman bridge formerly used to enter the city enclosure near the Mosque, rises the Puerto del Puente or Bridge Gate. It was completed in the days of Philip II. The present triumphal arch is the work of Hernán Ruiz III and replaces what was first a Roman gate mentioned at the time of Julius Cesar and later a Moorish gate. A documented restoration took place in 720 AD. Today it is a traffic island.
The walls which used to mark the boundaries of the Jewish quarter extended virtually to the Arab walls. The latter enclose the Alcazar gardens and continue along the river bank. These stretches of wall are among the better conserved in the city's fortified enclosure, although they are from a later period.
This small but well-known street is the most photographed street in Cordoba. A typical narrow, cobbled alley between whitewashed houses, its balconies and walls are decked out with flowers in terracotta pots, in characteristically vivid colours, such as brilliant pink, purple and red geraniums.
You can walk over the Roman bridge in either direction. It is close to the great Mosque and leads to Torre de Calahorra at south end. The Roman bridge which, according to the Arab geographer, Al-drisi 'surpasses all other bridges in beauty and solidity', reflects little of its Roman roots, owing to frequent reconstruction over many decades.
Just a few minutes away from the Mezquita, to the east along calle Luis de la Cerda/Lineros, is the Plaza del Potro (Square of the Colt), a long, rectangular square which slopes down towards the nearby Guadalquivir river to the south. It is named after the 16th-century fountain in the plaza (1577).
The Patio contests is sponsored by the Córdoba City Hall and began in 1918. But to really understand why a contest of this type was created in Córdoba you must know something about the local architecture.
This recently created museum is located at the 15th century Episcopal Palace, and is a beautiful building with a cloister of several storeys, a chapel and dining-room, as well as a hall dedicated to artists from Cordoba and a gallery dedicated to mediaeval art, as well as tapestries and collections of psalm books from the Cathedral.
The ancient site at Rio Verde may have been part of the Roman town of Cilniana. It now houses the remains of a late 1st century AD Roman villa. Sadly all that is left is the floor and a small portion of the walls of the villa (the highest at 1.2 metres). However, fortunately for us it is a floor unlike any other - embellished with black and white mosaic tiles in patterns never before seen in a Roman Villa.
Partially surrounded by the ruins of an old Arab wall with narrow white washed streets, old churches and squares, as well as lots of fascinating shops and boutiques At the heart of the old town is Orange Square which dates back to 1485
Inaugurated in 1785, Ronda's Plaza de Toros is one of the oldest in Spain, younger and smaller than that at Sevilla, but home to one of Spain's most famous 'schools' of bullfighting, on foot rather than on horseback as at Jerez and Sevilla.
Built on Arabic foundations at the instigation of the Reyes Catolicos after the fall of Ronda in 1485, this imposing structure on the far side of the Puente Nuevo has been rebuilt over the centuries in Mudejar (post-Reconquest Arabic), gothic and Renaissance styles. It has been, variously, a Dominican convent, a private mausoleum for the Moctezuma y Rojas family and, sporadically, a tribunal for the Inquisition.
Puente Nuevo, Ronda's 'new bridge' was completed in 1793, after 40 years in construction and after the loss of the lives of 50 builders constructing the span bridging the 98m Tajo gorge. The bridge bisects Ronda into new town (mercadillo, 'little market') and old (La Ciudad). The project was first proposed by King Felipe V in 1735.
The church of Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios is close by in the Plaza San Francisco. It was built in the 18th Century of local sandstone, which is rich in iron ore. As you walk around the outside walls, you will see many pieces of iron ore still embedded in the stone blocks.
There is little left to see of the great castle which once stood at the heart of Estepona, and what remains is not now readily apparent, but it is possible to trace the ruins around the high ground. Its construction followed the seizing of the town in 1457 by Enrique IV. He also built new defensive towers along the coast.
Plaza de las Flores has had a number of names over the years, beginning as Plaza Real, it became in turn Plaza de la Constitución, Plaza de José Antonio and finally (at least for now), Plaza de Las Flores. They were great times for the makers of street signs. Somewhere along the way it was also known briefly as Plaza de Abastos (Provisions Square), where the markets alternated with bullfights.
