While the rest of Europe was languishing during the Dark Ages, Andalusia (southern Spain) thrived. It was a center of medicine and science, language and translation, art and manuscripts. The scholars of Andalusia - Christian, Muslim and Jew - worked together to produce a unique society that became the safeguard of the learning of the Greeks and the Romans.

The Islamic culture of al-Andalus was adopted by Christians and Jews living in the kingdom. This culture continued even after the Moorish caliphate fell to Catholic rule.

The capital of this enlightened empire, until its fall in 1236, was Cordoba.

As the capital of the most powerful kingdom in Islam , Cordoba was a city of half a million people. It contained thousands of mosques, tens of thousands of shops and libraries which boasted hundreds of thousands of volumes. Its luxury goods were coveted all over Europe.

Its palaces and baths were renowned for their opulence and it had the first street lighting in Europe. Students and merchants came from all over Europe, Africa and even Asia to this cosmopolitan city which dominated Andalusia for three centuries.

Cordoba’s charm, many centuries later, is still largely tied to its Moorish and Arab past. Sevilla has a beauty and a rhythm of its own - part Moor, part Gypsy and part Spanish.

As you wander down its picturesque and evocative streets in the restored heart of Cordoba - one of the largest medieval quarters in Europe - it is not difficult to imagine the days when Cordoba was one of the most important cities in Europe. Its citizens included Muslim scientist and philosopher Averroes and Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonedes (whose synagogue still stands).

Its Great Mosque - (partly destroyed to construct a large cathedral inside) is one of the world’s best known pieces of religious architecture. It is a vast forest of hundreds of delicate marble columns and elegant arches. Its mihrab - the niche which denotes the direction of Mecca - is a brilliant and rich composition of mosaics sent as a gift by the Emperor of Byzantium.

Cordoba’s large Juderia has been recently restored and is now filled with charming shops and cafes. For those interested in Jewish heritage, the tiny jewel-like medieval synagogue (the one in which Maimonedes prayed) is one of only three remaining synagogues in Spain from before the Expulsion of 1492.

Recently constructed in the heart of the Juderia - now the trendiest area of Cordoba - is a lovely hotel just opened a few years ago.

Medinat az-Zahara was a 10th century palace of unimaginable luxury outside Cordoba. Its opulence awed its visitors.

One chronicler records an ambassador being taken the eight kilometers from Cordoba to Medinat az-Zahara, finding his path covered in carpets from one end to end and lined with maidens holding parasols and refreshments. Another chronicler wrote of crystal columns and domes and of walls made of falling water. Another fountain was made of flowing mercury - a liquid mirror.

Although only a few ruins remain (its columns were carried as far away as Marrakech), it is worth the short trip (don’t expect the carpet and parasols!).