I recently returned home from an Insight Vacations, tour of the Treasures of Spain, Portugal, & Morocco. I love exploring and experiencing things I cannot find at home and every level this trip filled me up with what I was craving. Each city, each town, each village, each stop along the way was filled with rich history, or astounding architecture, or some new pastry to savor, all light and flaky and with just the right amount of crispy.
The USA is very young country, our birthday a mere 248 years ago – and in Spain, Portugal, and Morrocco we were visiting places that had been established before Christ was born over 2000 years ago.
And while I absolutely loved seeing the things I’ve heard about for so long, like The Tomb of Christopher Columbus, or the Alhambra Palace, the most astounding things for me were places the tour took us that I had never heard of, because these places changed my perception of the world. For example, the Great Mosque Cathedral in Cordoba, also known as Cathedral of our Lady of the Assumption, and then because it was also a mosque at one time, it’s also known as the Mezquita, and as the Great Mosque of Cordoba.
According to the story, the site was initially a Visigoth Christian Basilica which was divided and share by both Muslims and Christians. Imagine that, Muslims and Christians worshipping together side by side in the same building, living life and talking about family and God. Then as the Muslim community grew, the building was expanded little by little to accommodate more worshippers. This ended around 785 when the Muslim leaders purchased the basilica and demolished it to build the Great Mosque. Fast forward to 1236 when Cordoba was captured by Christian forces the Christians took over the Mosque, then in the 16th century a new Renaissance Cathedral Nave and Transept were constructed into the center of the Mosque.
The Mosque only took about 2 years to build because the builders re-used a lot of the existing Roman pillars and Visigothic materials that were already there in the area. The ultimate in upcycling – and I realized that recycling isn’t a newer idea – it has been going on for a very long time. Because of this, there are pillars in the mosque that are over 2000 years old and what happens when I reflect on this is I begin to imagine what life was like back then, when Christians and Muslims worshipped together in the same building. I begin to wonder who all has set foot inside this amazing Cathedral Mosque. I begin to imagine which people that I’ve read about in history have been here.
When they Christians took over, they began by putting little altars and chapels in the smaller spaces lining the outside walls of the Mosque. Then eventually built the renaissance Cathedral that we are able to visit today. The artwork and craftsmanship within these walls is masterful. From the Muslim architecture with Moorish influence to the Renaissance paintings and sculptures depicting stories from the bible. Muslims do not have sculptures or images of people because they believe you feel God within you, and the Catholic faith wanted images that bring people closer and make the message of God more understandable. So artists were commissioned to produce the incredible works of art within the walls of Mosque and Cathedral architecture creating a luxurious and breath-taking space. Definitely a profound experience that I highly recommend.
I enjoyed this trip immensely for the things I wanted to see, and for being able to visit astonishing places I had never heard of. I am grateful there are tour companies that design tours that are as fulfilling and enriching as this one was. I am not the same person I was before I went on this trip because now I have a better understanding of Geography, History, and Humanity. Feeling very blessed coming into this Holiday season.
