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Entertainment in Spain Cordoba Gardens and Patios |
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Every May those who love flowers go to
Cordoba to enjoy the famous patio festival. Pretty town houses in the
Jewish quarter come alive with colourful displays of geraniums,
carnations and jasmines. Pots by the hundreds adorn window ledges,
staircases and doors. In a very genteel manner, tourists wander from
patio to patio to admire the work put in by the owners and to acquire
ideas that would enliven their own Andalucian patios. It is a serious competition and not an event put on purely to entice tourists to the City. Homeowners compete for top prizes. The Moorish conquest brought with it advanced horticultural know how to Spain. Cordoba itself became a major centre of botanic studies as far back as the 10th century. The knock on effect of that over a number of centuries is that today Cordoba has not one garden worth visiting. It has several. Surprisingly many of those who attend the patio festival are unaware of this fact. For a start they need only walk an extra mile to revel in some very serious planting. The gardens of the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos are a delight. The Christian King Alfonso XI built the fortress palace in 1328. It is undeniably impressive and the royal Moorish bathhouse, the Banos-Califales, is worth seeing. However, it is the exterior grounds which are, in my opinion, a must see. All 55.000 square metres of them. Although they originate from the Christian era, these gardens are typically Moorish in design with ponds, fountains and aromatic plants vying for your attention. It is an exceedingly relaxing place to walk through and peaceful place to sit. Inevitably, at the height of tourist season, this can be difficult to do. One advantage of visiting these gardens in May is that the flower aficionados are busy elsewhere in town and the gardens are much quieter. The gardens boast one of the largest variety of plants in Spain. Palm trees are prominent along with the statuesque cypresses. In the oldest section of the gardens orange and lemon trees are plentiful. The box-edged beds are home to Clivia, Zantedeschia and – my own personal favourite – the Agapanthus. Perfumed jasmine grows on the walls alongside blue Plumbago. Nearby various roses ensure that the harem garden smells wonderful for much of the year. The gardens alongside the much photographed long pool were laid out as recently as the 1950’s. Here formal beds with box plants sit happily with pansies and petunias. The lay out of the garden is distinctive and statues of Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella – who lived here for eight years – keep a watching eye on proceedings. As with the Generalife in Granada, these gardens play host to performances of music, theatre and dance. The water in the garden was originally brought in by an aqueduct from the Sierra Morena and the great Albolafia waterwheel in the Guadalquivir, the river that runs through the province of Cordoba. The larger ponds were added in the 19th century. Close to the gardens you will come across the Royal Stables, which extend to encompass the Gardens of the Campo Santo de los Márties. Adjacent to the most visited site in Cordoba, La Mezquita, is the Patio de los Naranjos. This is believed to be the oldest living garden in Europe. Today where pomegranates and palms once dominated there is now little decoration. Today the water comes from three stunning Renaissance fountains and the water channels cut through the cobbles for irrigation. The fountains date from the 16th century. While inside La Mezquita it is the ancient columns that dominate, outside 98 mop-head orange trees planted in straight rows are equally impressive. The Patio de los Naranjos is small at only 120 by 60 metres but it is magnificent. It is proof positive of how much the Arabs who created it knew about gardening. They loved their gardens. Islamic gardens, with their cultivated garden beds and water channels, are traditionally regarded as an early reflection of paradise. They learned all about how best to use water in gardens from the Persian world. The water starved Spain of today would benefit from their knowledge. Cordoba was once home to a population of a million people. Today around 300.000 people live there. A few kilometres west is the site of another large, former City. It took 10.000 men, 15.000 mules and 4.000 camels to construct Madinat Al-Zahara or ‘City of the flower’. Abd al-Rahman III ordered the building of the new Palatine City and it took more than 25 years to complete. His rule is seen as the most dynamic in the history of Cordoba. He ensured that the short distance between the new City and Cordoba was fully planted with Almond trees. Cordoba A Quick Guide |
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