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| The palm trees and thin conifers of Cordoba, as seen from a tower in the Alcazar castle |
The final stop of our Spanish journey takes us to Cordoba, formerly the capital of the Moorish state of Al-Andalus.
The most famous site (justly so) in Cordoba is the Mezquita, a mosque that was transformed into a cathedral hundreds of years ago when the Christians reconquered Spain from its Muslim rulers.
But Cordoba also has its own Alcazar, a castle with "delightful gardens".
To be honest, I'd say that if you find yourself in Cordoba, you should skip the Alcazar. The interior is bare (or covered in pigeon dung) and the gardens (as with the ones in Granada and Sevilla) seemed overrated to me.
But I did find a few garden-related sights of interest...
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| By and large, I found the Alcazar gardens of Cordoba just as dull as the other famous Spanish gardens we visited. As with the others, hedges were ominpresent in this garden, although here at least some were trimmed into whimsical topiary shapes. I did like the cheerful bed of French Marigolds (Tagetes patula, I presume) encircling the vase. Interestingly, despite its name, I just discovered that "French" Marigolds, as well as "African" Marigolds, are both native to Mexico and Central America! |
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| Pretty blue flowers. They looked a little like phlox, but I think this was growing on a bushy vine that covered a wall. Can phlox do that? Sadly, none of the plants in Cordoba's Alcazar garden had markers to identify them by name. |
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| My wife leaned in close to the phlox plant, and there among the foliage we spotted this very large grasshopper. |
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| This kingly statue tries to project an air of power and authority, but this pigeon is not impressed. |
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| None of the plants or landscaping here were necessarily all that special, but I wanted to include this photo from our Cordoba hotel - Hospederia Banos Arabes de Cordoba - simply because it did show the Spanish taste for courtyard gardens. In this case, the garden contains a small plunge pool and curtained sofa. Do you have a courtyard garden in your home? Or have you seen other courtyard gardens that you admired? I feel there is something very nice about having a private and enclosed garden, somewhat protected from the elements, easily accessed from many parts of a home. I wish that courtyard garden design was more prominent in U.S. housing customs. |
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