With or without a camera to hand, it can be a great pleasure to look down on a “historic” city from a high vantage point, shortly before sunset.
I took the featured photo at 5.54 pm on 11 November 2025.
We were standing on the most elevated “viewing platform” in Córdoba – the upper section of its Cathedral-Mosque’s bell tower.
Globally unique, the Cathedral-Mosque is Córdoba‘s prime tourist attraction.
It is hard to imagine a visitor who’d fail to be amazed by it.
Arguably, however, this “wonder” is also one of the world’s more conspicuous examples of gross cultural vandalism, and of religious intolerance/triumphalism..
Eventually, Pelican Yoga will devote an entire series to the Cathedral-Mosque.
Meanwhile, enjoy the view from the “very Roman Catholic” bell tower, down to a garden with an “obviously Moorish” accent.
The bell tower supplanted the previous, “obviously Muslim” minaret.
(the new bell tower’s construction – in the 16th & 17th centuries CE – took advantage of some of the structure of the minaret, which had been built in the 9th century CE)