Córdoba is a mid-sized Andalusian city —around 320,000 people— on the banks of the Guadalquivir, but its place in history is huge: it was the capital of the Western Umayyad Caliphate and, in the 10th century, one of the largest and most cultured cities in the world, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived side by side.
From that splendour comes its jewel, the Mosque-Cathedral, one of the most impressive monuments in Europe: a forest of red-and-white columns and arches with a Renaissance cathedral raised inside. Around it spreads the Jewish Quarter, a maze of white alleys with the medieval Synagogue and the Calleja de las Flores, completed by the Alcázar of the Christian Monarchs, the Roman Bridge and, on the outskirts, the ruins of Medina Azahara.
Córdoba is also lived through its patios: houses with whitewashed courtyards crammed with flowerpots, an Intangible Cultural Heritage, opened to the public during May's Patio Festival. The city is compact and seen well in one or two days, which makes it a classic day trip from Seville, Madrid or Granada —though it's worth staying overnight.
The best time to visit is **