On the Road Again!

After staying in Cordoba the night before we were handy for Medina or Madinat Al-Zahra as they call it locally. We arrived about 1100 after a late morning and getting the car from the car-park and the heavy traffic in Cordoba! The car-park at Zahra is quite small and less simple once a coach or two are involved. We ended up on the way in, half on the road and half in a ditch, and they charged us 80¢ for the privilege. On the other hand it is free for EU citizens to get in! For the next three hours we spent walking in the burning heat and looking at the magnificence that Abd ar-Rahman III built and named after his wife.  As well as a palace it was also his main seat of power and was connected to the city at Cordoba with a brick road, sadly not yellow or paved with gold. The site is in two halves, the business and private areas. It is hard to see the difference. Both show an oppulence that was designed to show his power and visitors got the IKEA system of walking round and round to g...

Up and off to Cordoba. This time the motorway past Malaga was clear and we made good time to the turn off up the main N331 towards Cordoba. We were slowed as they are building the motorway alongside it. On arrival the GPS had is perfectly on route but it can't plan for local drivers blocking the road. After a detour and a bit of maneuvering  we arrived right by the Mezquita . Coppers everywhere. The reason was some European conference on intolerance to Moslems . Didn't see too many delegates that looked vaguely Arabic etc. That's the EU for you. The hostel I had chosen was recommended in the Rough Guide to Andalucia . The Hostel Santa Ana is a short walk to the Mezquita . After parking in the private garage, we set off for lunch and then into the Mezquita . We even went back to the hotel to get another couple of Nikon batteries for the still camera. I'm still not convinced about the movie cam. Although we managed to take 30 different short films in and around the Mezqu...