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| At the entrance to the patio neighborhood |
The third patio:
The fifth:
Friday, November 4, 2016
November 4 - Patios!
Patios are a thing in Córdoba. In the old part of the city, groups of apartments are built around small shared interior courtyards called patios. Some of the people who live in these units enter an annual contest for the best patio. There is a patio festival in May and people come from all over the place to view the patios entered in the contest. There are a number of rules. One is that the patio has to be cared for by the people who live there; you can't pay someone else to do it.
Some of the patio owners have agreed to keep their patios open to the public for several months. It is a big responsibility because someone has to be there to host while people wander in and out for a few hours each evening.
We met our guide, Ana, again, and she walked us to the main patio neighborhood. We stopped at a little office and bought our tickets for the patio visits.
I loved them. Each one was different. Some of them had staged the area that used to be the communal kitchen and filled it with antique utensils. You could also see antique sewing machines, farm implements, Roman columns, and more. One or two had fountains. Some had wells that used to be used by the residents sharing the patio.
The patios were important because of the hot weather and the small apartments. They are still common in residences as well as restaurants. They usually have a passageway separating them from the street to provide privacy. Cordobans are very proud - rightfully so - of this delightful tradition.
Enjoy these photos and imagine how much better the flowers would have looked in May.
The first patio we visited:
The second:
The fourth patio:
The sixth:
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OMG! Who knew?? Not me!
ReplyDeleteI just checked and Spaniards have a life expectancy roughly 3.5 years longer than Americans. This kind of community and shared responsibility surely plays a role in that.
The sense of community can also be seen in the tapas culture, which I hope to write about soon. And, of course, the Mediterranean diet.
ReplyDeleteIncredible! So they get on a ladder and water all those plants?! Amazing and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteEveryone who lives in a house located at a particular patio has to help. Watering is one of the big jobs, and can take two hours a day. It is super hot in the summer. Mostly the watering methods are very old school - along bamboo pole with a tin can on the end was shown to us at one patio.
DeleteJust saw the comment on life expectancy; looking forward to seeing what you think causes that, Peggy. Watering all those plants would be meditative--and I'll bet there are no drive-throughs.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed a lot of people walking around in the evenings. I suspect they walk more than Americans. Very few Spaniards are overweight. And they are fairly religious - a known factor favoring an increased life expectancy.
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