Last week I started my report about a trip to Spain over the holidays with my sketching tools and before that, I posted a bunch of people sketches celebrating use of public transportation on this trip.
This week I will show you a city which was a base for a big chunk of our trip: Cordoba.
This was the only city on this trip where I feel like I had a little taste for real life in it. It probably was a false assumption but the city quickly started to feel familiar. There was something very grounding in the way that with every day my ability to find a way was getting more intuitive (despite a jet lag), how I started to understand architecture a bit and see how streets grew in time. By the end of the week, I had a favorite wall, tree, bakery, and dog park.
I saw myself running in this city after meeting lots of runners on the streets. I enjoyed identifying the abundance of birds by the river. I did not get tired of many happy orange trees all around the city - just fruits hanging on the trees - everywhere! A very blue sky - dear to every Californian's heart - and amazing light everywhere :) Good selection of apples in stores. Embarrassing use of my Spanish at a local supermarket and how I felt at peace by the end of the conversation despite it. So many things I wanted to draw (but not enough time) - my phone is exploding with photos I took! A Roman bridge over a river that was mighty once. Completely mind-boggling, beautiful mosque that I cannot wrap my head around. And three things that I saw in other cities but somehow I keep going back to the Cordoba version of them:
- Pavement as mosaics with the river stones - enchinado pavement.
- Patios - gardens inside the homes. How so much greenery can fit into even the smallest space, how much diversity in plants, and how these gardens are framed by the walls, floors, sky, and amazing ornamented gates and window decorations. And flower pots!
- Tiles - everywhere little and large tiles with beautiful ornaments or pictures, stories, or just colors. On the floor, on the walls, on the pavement, on the bottoms of the balconies, on the sides of the windows - everywhere!
More from the trip (winter 2023-24, Spain)
The tiles and textures are all so amazing! I can see why your phone memory would be bursting from all the photos!
ReplyDeletethank you - I am having hard time deleting any of the photos from the trip!! :) I guess if I draw at least some I would be able to do it :)
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