Crowd-free Cordoba Itinerary
- Lucy and the lens
- Mar 3, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 4, 2019
Last month I took a solo trip to Cordoba and Seville, in Andalusia. I flew into Malaga airport and took the train to Cordoba, spent two nights there, and then another train to Seville, where I spent one night. I wanted to focus on photographing both cities without the crowds, and even though some areas were extremely busy, I was still pretty successful! So here's my crowd-free-Cordoba-in-a-day itinerary - and if you want to see my crowd-free Seville itinerary, click here!
Hotel: Eurostars Conquistador, located just seconds from the Mezquita-Cathedral. It's in the old part of the city and everything you'd want to see is within 10 minutes' walk: perfect for seeing the sights before the crowds get too thick.
8am: wake up. I don't know if this is weird, but I decided to shower once I was done with the first early-morning sights on my itinerary, and grabbed an on-the-go cereal bar to save time on breakfast.
8:30am: Cordoba Mezquita-Cathedral.
Cordoba's outstandingly beautiful mosque-turned-cathedral will probably be on most people's must-see list, but what a lot of visitors don't realise is that while the tours and paid entry start at 10:30am, after the morning service at the cathedral, the doors actually open at 8:30am, allowing the early bird to see the gorgeous interior for free and with a fraction of the crowds. There's not much point in getting there much before 8:30am: there was a crowd of about 15 people waiting outside the doors to the courtyard when 8:30am rolled around, so there was no need to bag a place in the line for first entry. Doors are opened at the same time on both the left and the right of the cathedral; neither one is a better choice than the other, although I noticed that the least busy area was on the back left hand side of the cathedral, where the unique red-and-white striped archways created a wonderful optical illusion that I just had to sit and take in. The other benefit of going early is that cathedrals are meant to be calm and atmospheric places, and I doubt you'd get the same sense of awe and peace later in the day once the tour groups roll in.
9am: Calleja de las Flores
By 9am, the Mezquita was already pretty busy (glad I got there promptly at 8:30!), so head next to the city's most famous view: the Calleja de las Flores. This flower-lined street that perfectly frames the cathedral's bell tower is so tiny and narrow, you can just imagine the struggle during peak times. At 9am, though, it was deserted. At one end there is a cute little courtyard, where I spent a few minutes just taking in the view. I took this opportunity to meander aimlessly through the city's old, winding streets, discovering lovely little views around every turn.
10am: Get ready for the day!
I went back to my hotel at this point for a shower! As I wasn't planning to appear in any photos on this solo trip, I wasn't exactly wasting a tonne of time trying to look my best!
11am: Palacio de Viana
This palace is dramatically under-visited, which worked for me! It is famous for its many, many courtyards which are, in turn, one of the things Cordoba is famous for as a city. The oldest parts of this palace are 500 years old and Moorish in design, while the newer parts date from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. There are so many courtyards and so few visitors that I was able to just sit all by myself and take in the peace of each courtyard.
1pm: lunch at Mercado Victoria
As a solo traveller I wasn't super keen on heading to a tapas restaurant by myself, so I compromised and walked the 20 minutes to Mercado Victoria, a covered gourmet market serving Spanish tapas and Cordoban specialties as well as all sorts of more modern dishes. There, I discovered salmorejo, a cold soup invented in Cordoba. The traditional flavour is a thick herby tomato, with cooked egg, jamon and olive oil balanced on top, and it was delicious. But I didn't stop there - I ordered the sample platter, with all seven of the flavours on offer at La Salmoreteca. Besides the classic, my other favourite was the avocado soup with salmon ceviche and mango foam. When I went at 12:30pm, it was quiet, as the locals tend to eat lunch later. If you want a more bustling market experience, just go at 2pm-3pm, or after 8pm. I spent nearly 3 hours at the market altogether, slowly eating my way through as much as I could!
4pm: Cordoba Alcazar
I wasn't planning to visit Cordoba's Alcazar (royal palace), as I'd heard it has nothing on Seville's Real Alcazar, which I'd be visiting in a couple of days. However, after wandering around all over the place I found myself outside the Alcazar, so figured I might as well give it a chance. Even though it was peak time, the palace is so large that it doesn't feel crowded: the grounds in particular are beautifully kept and sprawling. My favourite area was the orange tree courtyard, as well as the view over all of Cordoba from the tower.
6pm: Roman Bridge sunset
The Roman Bridge is the other icon of Cordoba. When I was there in February, sunset was around 7pm, so I headed across the bridge (away from the old city) at around 6pm, and watched the sun set and the lights on the bridge and the cathedral light up across the water.
The bridge will be buzzing with people in the evening, but the view is better at the blue hour than it is in the morning, so I'd recommend saving this view until later in the day. For some reason, even though the bridge itself was bustling, the banks of the river on the opposite side were perfectly quiet and peaceful.
7:30pm: Tapas, tapas, tapas!
I headed back to Mercado Victoria for more tapas, but there are plenty of options in the old town, too. I have a thing for Spanish croquetas, those breaded, deep-fried bites with a creamy, cheesy centre, so I bought what I was expected were these....but it turned out what I actually bought were flamenquins, another uniquely Cordoban delicacy! Instead of the creamy centre, I discovered rolled pork and jamon, which were then breaded and deep fried.
That's it for my crowd-free Cordoba itinerary. Click here for my crowd-free Seville itinerary: it's only a 40 minute train ride from Cordoba and is an absolute must-visit!
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