10-29: The Great Mosque of Cordoba

As we sit here high and dry in Cordoba, Spain, we are trying to get an idea of the severity of Hurricane Sandy, about to make landfall any moment somewhere in New Jersey.

But DAMN it, Wolf Blitzer is a horror movie. This man puts the V in vapid.

Today we rode the bus to Cordoba, past mile after mile of olive orchards, two and a half hours from Granada, just to see one thing: the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

Who knew? This enormous house of worship dates from the 9th Century. The glorious striped stone columns that you can see here have lower Visigothic arches and higher Roman arches, built by Byzantine architects hired by Moorish masters -- and it is still standing and breathtaking.

The astonishing thing is that when the Christians conquered Cordoba in the year 1236, they built their new cathedral INSIDE the mosque, instead of tearing down and building over it as was their practice before and after.

Perhaps even they were touched by the inspirational beauty of this once a mosque - now a church. For whatever reasons, Plot and Duck were maybe even more astounded by the Great Mosque of Cordoba than by the Alhambra yesterday. And that is saying something.

We really hope Brooklyn doesn't get blasted.