 Almost every home in Cordoba takes pride in their private patio. Creating a visual flora feast.
The diversity of types and styles of
gardens in Córdoba and province is the most remarkable in
Andalucia.
Córdoba City
In the City
of Córdoba is found the oldest walled garden in Europe,
the orange grove beside the Mosque dating from the 8th century.
Gardens from the times of the Caliphs found in the Alcázar de
los Reyes Cristianos are with the characteristic terraced pools.
The palace of the Prince
of Viana has 14 patios and a garden covering the Renaissance
and the Baroque periods which have been restored by the owners at
the beginning of the century. The garden features citrus trees,
date palms and rose bushes. The Patio de la Madama is the oldest
part and has a small temple in the centre formed by an arch and
clipped cypresses around the figure of a woman.
Click
here to read an article on Palace of Viana in the Andalucia
Magazine.
There are also some good
examples of 19th century gardens such as La Victoria and
La Agricultura the latter with a large quantity of plane
trees and pines.
The landscaped park Cruz
Conde was opened during this century together with the Gardens
of Colon, of the Faculty of Veterinarians, Colegio Mayor
Nuestra Sra. De la Asunción. The Zoo and Botanical
gardens has three greenhouses with plants found in the peninsular
and an area devoted to plants useful to man from several parts of
the world. There is also a curious garden for the blind containing
aromatic plants with labels in Braille.
Córdoba city's
Patios
In the
old part of town especially in Juderia, there are some wonderful
patios. Since early times the focal point and the social life of
the Mediterranean house has revolved around the central patio. Córdoba
city as a great tradition of decorating the patios with lots of
flowers in plant pots most patios belonging to private houses so
can only be visited in May when they are open for the famous Patios
Festival Competition. Patios worth visiting are those belonging
to the Bullfighting Museum, the Archaeological Museum
and also the Plaza of San Andres.
Just outside Cordoba
City
Gardens from the times
of the Caliphs are found in the ruins of the huge palace of Medina-Azahara
located to the west of the city.
Click
here to read an article on Palace of Medina-Azahara in the Andalucia
Magazine.
The Alameda del Obispo
(the bishops avenue) which is situated quite near the town includes
a Baroque maze restored during this century.
Province of Córdoba
The ducal palace at Fernan
Nunez has an attractive Baroque terraced Hispano-Arabic garden
with garden orchard.
On the road to Posadas
there is the garden of Mortarella, largely designed by Forestier
where entrance is gained through a large iron grille opening onto
a wide avenue in the style of the French chateaux. There are some
enormous plane trees over a large part of the garden with several
characteristic fountains, with the garden tables and benches made
of brick and glazed tiles.
To the south in Cabra, the Alcantara
Romero Park is a good example of a 19th century public garden
and around the source of the Cabra River, La Fuente del Rio Park
is also interesting.
Near Priego, there is La Fuente del Rey, a baroque monument with a garden laid out in the style of the 19th century.
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