Cordoba Patios

For the past 10 days the city of Cordoba (capital of the province in which I live...same name) has been holding a contest to see who can best decorate their patio. Many traditional houses here in Andalucía are built around a central patio which allows people to spend time outside and be in the shade (the walls of the house protect the patio from sunlight). Each year, people open their patios for visitors and contest judges.

Tuesday, Lourdes, Guillermo, Cecilia, Erin and I went to Cordoba to see some patios. We started in the touristy section of the city where some hotels and government buildings had also decorated their patios. These were nice, but nothing like the patios in the residential part of the city. People go all-out: flowers cover the walls, floor and every other surface. Some patios have wells. Some are large, with many houses connected to one space, while others are more intimate. The winning patio is actually a mini-city; it's more like a series of walkways connecting many houses and shops. It was interesting (in a voyeuristic manner) to see other people's houses, and the patios were really pretty, but it was all a bit over-done for my taste.