Cordoba Part 2

I fell asleep that night and slept like a baby, waking up later than I thought, and I rushed off to the Mezquita. I met Amy and her sister, and we got in for free, as the mass was going on.The Mezquita was a phenomenally interesting building, one of the most interesting I saw in Spain. It started as a Visigothic church, 1500 years ago, and one could see remnants of this inside. The Moors took over and built the greatest mosque in the West over the site. It is impressive, with a sea of red and white striped pillars inside, hundreds of them, along with a beautifully decorated prayer wall. Then, the Catholics conquered the area in the 13th century, and built a cathedral -- get this -- inside the mosque. Where there were quranic verses, there now are spaces for images of the Virgin Mary, and in the middle of the mosque, there is an incredibly ornate Cathedral with elements of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture. Much of it was built in the Catholic Counter-Reformation, a time when the Catholics were vying with the Protestants for control over Europe. There were incredible amounts of mahogany and decoration which staggered the eye.
Outside of the Mezquita was a courtyard with orange trees where swallows were flitting around in circles, as if they were playing in flight for the mere joy of it. We then got some food at another highly recommended restaurants in the area. We tried orange with salted cod and bull's tail, which was quite tasty.
We checked out a museum which covered the area's history since the earliest inhabitants, thousands of years ago, continuing through the Celtic peoples, and then onto Roman and Moorish history. There were tonnes of Roman artifacts, from statues of gods and goddesses to early Christian art to crypts with skeletons inside. Then, I fell asleep in a sunny courtyard outside. Before supper, we all parted ways, which was kind of sad for me, as I enjoyed the company. I spent the evening walking around by myself, trying some different food before returning back to my original hostel.
As much as I enjoyed Cordoba (it was a favourite of mind), I woke up the next morning and headed out for the bus station and hopped on a bus for Sevilla.