Medieval charm and floral beauty captivate visitors to Cordoba. A calendar highlight is FLORA, an October event that honors the city’s botanical heritage.
As you explore the cobbled streets of this sun-kissed city in Southern Spain’s Andalusia region, it’s a welcome relief to escape the heat by stepping into a leafy courtyard festooned with flowers and surrounded by thick, whitewashed walls. Harking back to the city’s deep Arabic roots, these cool oases cast a magical spell.
Tourists can take in the horticultural splendor on a tour of private patios in Cordoba’s San Basilio neighborhood.
Tucked into the largest urban historic center in Spain, Cordoba’s trademark patios are one of its chief touristic draws. Architectural gems as well as horticultural havens, they reflect the tradition of cultivating flowers and plants introduced by the Moors when the Iberian Peninsula was ruled from Cordoba by Muslim emirs and caliphs. A great center of learning and artistic expression during its heyday in the 10th and early 11th centuries, Cordoba reigned as medieval Europe’s cultural capital, a city second in importance only to Constantinople. Christians, under King Ferdinand III of Castile, conquered Cordoba in 1236, ending five centuries of Muslim rule.
For two weeks every May, Cordoba celebrates its blooming courtyards during the Patio Festival (Festival de los Patios), an annual event held since 1921. About 50 private homes, competing for awards as the most picturesque, open up their inner sanctums to the public—for free.
On my trip to Cordoba this past October, I was still able to view some private patios. In the San Basilio neighborhood, our group booked a tour that got us into the patios of five houses dating from the 16th to 18th centuries, a time when several poor families shared a communal courtyard. The common kitchen in some patios has been preserved and is on display. But the stars of the show are pots brimming with geraniums, impatiens, petunias, marigolds and other flower varieties, along with vines, shrubbery, rose bushes, and cascades of jasmine and raspberry-red bougainvillea. Orange, lemon, olive and fig trees also set the stage in these lush mini paradises, one of which is occupied by artisan shops specializing in handcrafted leather, ceramics, silver jewelry and perfumes.
Bamboo canes and fountains dominated the winning entry in FLORA 2025. The annual competition in Cordoba features international artists who use plants and other natural materials to create large installations in existing patios.
FLORA: Blending Art and Nature
My October visit coincided with a relatively new cultural event that nods to Cordoba’s floral and botanical heritage. Called FLORA, the week-long, free-admission festival (October 12-22, 2026) features five installations in public courtyards within walking distance of each other in the historic center. Using plants and other natural materials, five international artists compete for monetary prizes. We saw creations by competitors from Mexico, Brazil, the United States and Spain.
FLORA 2025’s first-place winner was Wagner Kreusch, a Brazilian who fashioned a monumental structure out of green bamboo canes, fountains, a misting feature, and purple and white aspidistra flowers. Titled Rio Flotante, or “Floating River,” his entry wowed onlookers at Palacio de Viana, the estate of the aristocratic marquises of Viana until 1980. Now a major tourist attraction, the 16th century palace has 12 plant-filled patios, each with a story to tell, and rooms displaying collections of furniture, weapons, porcelain, tapestries and paintings.
In Cordoba’s historic district, El Jaleo restaurant offers a rousing flamenco show.
Cordoba’s Historic Heart
Threads of Christian and Jewish history, intertwined with vestiges of Roman, Visigoth and Moorish rule, emerge from every corner of Cordoba’s UNESCO-recognized historic quarter, a tourist-friendly maze of narrow lanes snaking between white buildings adorned with iron- grillwork windows, doors and balconies.
Practically all the city’s top sights lie within this easily walkable district, but it’s also fun just to wander and get lost in the labyrinth, where flower-decked patios, orange trees, and festive taverns and outdoor cafes typify the gracious lifestyle of Andalusia, the region that mirrors our most romantic visions of Spain. Within the old city walls, you’ll also find plenty of souvenir shops. A highlight for our group was a rousing flamenco show with dinner at El Jaleo, an intimate room where dancers electrified us with some thunderous stomping.
Cordoba’s atmospheric Jewish Quarter offers souvenir shops, cafes and a cozy medieval feel.
Exploring the Jewish Quarter
The medieval Jewish Quarter, or Juderia, is the historic core’s most atmospheric neighborhood, and its pleasures lay right outside the door of our hotel, the NH Collection Amistad Cordoba. Offering flower-decked alleyways and patios, along with reminders of Jewish culture that flourished in Cordoba long ago, the quarter is home to the Synagogue, built in 1315. No longer used for worship, it’s the only Jewish temple in Andalusia to survive the Inquisition in 1492, when Jews were expelled from Spain or forced to convert to Christianity. Inside the small building you see Hebrew inscriptions, Arabic decoration and even a Cross (it was used as a church in the 19th century). For many years the Jews lived in harmony with the Muslims and some held prestigious positions in the government, professions and arts. Toledo claims Spain’s other two remaining medieval synagogues.
Nearby, in a beautifully restored 14th century house, Casa de Sefarad is a museum that tells the story of the Sephardic Jews who lived in Iberia and other Mediterranean lands (a group differentiated from the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe).
At the Bullfighting Museum (Museo Taurino), right across the plaza from my hotel, I learned about some of Cordoba’s greatest matadors. Though much of the exhibit text was in Spanish only, the two short audio-visual presentations provided an option in English. With a wrap-around screen, one film puts you right in the middle of the ring with a ferocious bull.
An endless forest of columns and arches mesmerizes visitors to the Mezquita, a mosque turned church. It is Cordoba’s most important tourist sight.
Cordoba’s Crown Jewel: The Mezquita
First-time Cordoba visitors make a beeline to the Mezquita, a former mosque that has been a church since the 13th century. Rather than destroy the mosque, the Christians decided to modify it. In fact, the church—complete with an elaborate main altar, a giant nave, an organ, religious artwork, tombs of important citizens and intricately carved Cuban mahogany choir stalls—appears to have been has been plopped right into the middle of the mosque. The cavernous Mezquita (Spanish for “Mosque”) was once the second largest mosque in the world after the Great Mosque in Mecca.
The Mezquita’s most dazzling sight is the endless forest of marble, granite and onyx columns topped with red-and-white-striped, Islamic-style double arches; many of the pillars were recycled from Roman and Visigothic times. Fashioned over the centuries from a jumble of architectural styles, the dimly lit Mosque-Cathedral, as it’s known, is vast, mysterious and hard to wrap your head around. The columned arcades seem to march on forever, melting into infinity. There is no other building like it.
The Roman Bridge, a wide pedestrian walkway, spans the Guadalquivir River.
I wanted to climb the Mezquita’s bell tower (built around 1600 over remains of the mosque’s minaret), but tickets for the day were sold out. So, I crossed the Guadalquivir River via the 2,000-year-old Roman Bridge, a wide pedestrian walkway, and took in panoramic views from the rooftop terrace of the riverside’s formidable Calahorra Tower, a crenellated 1369 structure that houses a museum of Andalusian culture.
The bridge and Mezquita are a short walk from Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, residence of the Christian monarchs. The palace-fortress currently is closed for renovations, but I enjoyed its terraced gardens, admiring the plantings and statuary. One sculpture depicts Christopher Columbus being received by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, sponsors of his 1492 voyage to the New World.
When it comes to destinations in Andalusia, Cordoba often gets short shrift, as Seville and Granada tend to grab the most attention. But Cordoba should be on every traveler’s radar. This overlooked city merits a day or two for a good looking over.
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Story and photography by Randy Mink, Senior Editor
Lead Photo – A patio in Cordoba’s San Basilio neighborhood
