Portillo's Andalucia | Episode 3

Añadido: 2026-05-18

[00:00:02]Every summer, millions of us visit the region of Ander Luthia in southern Spain to enjoy its warm weather, hospitality, >> and some of Europe's most popular beaches on the Costa del.

[00:00:19]>> Being half Spanish, I've always felt a deep connection to this country.

[00:00:23]>> Hello, Michael.

[00:00:25]>> Can living in Ander Luthia. Wow. It's startlingly clear to me how much of what we associate with Spain originates in this region. I want to share those intoxicating influences with you.

[00:00:42]>> I'm crossing the frontier from mayhem to carnage.

[00:00:49]>> Across this series, I'll visit Anderuthia's historic cities. One of the most important [music] ports of the old world. Europeans made voyages of discovery that opened up the riches of the globe, where competing cultures have fashioned some of Spain's most vibrant celebrations and traditions.

[00:01:09]>> Wow.

[00:01:10]>> My goodness, we're doing well here. And bequeathed some of the world's bestloved buildings. Oh my word. Together, we will delight in delicious food. People come from all over the world for your tortilla. See?

[00:01:23]>> Harvested from [music] this region's fertile land.

[00:01:27]This is a cathedral of olive oil and fished from its generous seas. This is the beating heart of old Spain.

[00:01:36]Oh, and does it know it.

[00:01:39]And at the end of it, I'll return home to celebrate [music] with my friends and neighbors with Andeluthian passion.

[00:01:54]The beaches of [music] the Costa del Soul are in and Luthia. The region extends far in land and where I am now 100 miles from the sea could be a different planet. Cordoba offers us pinnacles of human achievement because succeeding civilizations were inspired by a magnificent river [music] to create dizzying architectural wonders.

[00:02:18]Cordoba laid out before me. I've been visiting here since childhood. Can't really get enough of it. But the story of this city [music] has meant more to me with the passage of time.

[00:02:32]Sometimes during the [music] greatest days of the city, Christians and Muslims and Jews coexisted [music] here until the Muslims and the Jews were expelled.

[00:02:45]And in recent times when some have tried to revive the enmity between Islam and Christianity, that memory of a tolerant Cordova gives me hope.

[00:03:01]Ships could once sail up the broad Guadal Cavier. The river gave access to the Atlantic and fertility to its broad valley. The bridge built by the brilliant Romans across the torrent made Cordoba strategic and important.

[00:03:16]Uniquely, the city has four UNESCO World Heritage sites. The greatest is the [music] mosque built by the Islamic civilization established in Spain from 7-Eleven. I find it moving being grand in scale and simple in design.

[00:03:33]In Cordoba, I'll create a splash learning how the city has been cooled [music] for 2,000 years. The water is good way of getting cool because the water is actually cascading over me.

[00:03:46]On surrounding plains, I'll see the trees that supply olive oil to the world.

[00:03:54]Woo! This is a cathedral of olive oil.

[00:03:59][music] and I'll enjoy classic Spanish food rooted in cultures buried in history.

[00:04:06][music] This is a combination of Jewish and Arabic.

[00:04:12][music] I've chosen to approach Cordoba from the south bank of the river and I recommend you do the same because only this way do [music] you see the magnificent silhouette of the city reflected in the water.

[00:04:42]Cordoba tells a story of mixtures of [music] cultures and layers of civilization. Here walked Roman feet.

[00:04:49]There was a [music] Roman fort. There was an Islamic mosque. There is a Catholic cathedral.

[00:04:59]Imagining legions who have marched ahead of you across the Roman bridge. You skip a few centuries to arrive in a medieval labyrinth of streets and alleyways.

[00:05:12]I absolutely do not recommend driving. I have lost countless wing mirrors in the narrow streets of these towns. As it happens in Cordoba, everything is close by, perfectly walkable.

[00:05:27]We must begin in the city's greatest building that offers us 1,400 years of history and starkly, even brutally illustrates the change in faith and power in Spain when Islam was defeated.

[00:05:41]In Britain, we're used to thinking about that period between the end of the Roman Empire and the Norman conquest as the dark ages. But if the Christian side of the world was casting gloom, the Muslim world was burning brightly. And I'm about to enter a building whose elegance and grace and style and engineering virtuosity are proof of a very advanced civilization.

[00:06:13]For hundreds of years, large parts of Spain, including all of Andia, were under Muslim rule.

[00:06:20]Cordoba's magnificent Metha was built over centuries, too. Its exterior walls are up to 180 m long, subtly embellished with intricate mosaics. This is one of the world's greatest [music] Islamic buildings.

[00:06:39]The outside is [music] breathtaking, but the interior much more so [music] still.

[00:06:48]Some 850 pillars support the roof and create mesmerizing [music] perspectives along aisles of colored marble, jasper, and deep red granite. [music] It's like walking through a forest.

[00:07:06][music] The columns are so thickly placed like the trunks of trees.

[00:07:12]I first visited [music] the mosque when I was quite small, about 12 years old.

[00:07:19]Interestingly, all these decades later, [music] the sense of awe and of wonder has not diminished over time.

[00:07:28][music] Every time is like my first visit.

[00:07:38]Extraordinarily replacing the middle section of this stunning mosque is the Catholic Cathedral added in the 16th century and aesthetically far inferior.

[00:07:50]And though the whole building is still known as the Metha or mosque, it is a cathedral and no Muslim may worship here.

[00:07:59]Most of us [music] find it an appalling aberration, a piece of architectural vandalism. And it's not just us. The emperor Charles V when he first saw it, he said, "You've destroyed [music] something that was unique in the world.

[00:08:27][music] You might be [music] surprised that in Cordoba, July is the low season for tourists. The reason is that the city endures some of Europe's highest summer temperatures.

[00:08:48]this infernal heat, luckily a street fountain. And the architectural response to the heat is the patio, a welloired area of the house full of plants. And today in southern Spain, people leave their doors open so that neighbors and friends can glance inside.

[00:09:11]But under the old Muslim tradition, the house was very private. And even today, beyond the patio, there are passageways and further courtyards. And every house is a voyage of discovery.

[00:09:27]I'm privileged to be invited into one of these inner courtyards. It hides demurely behind an unostentious door.

[00:09:37]It's filled with plants which make it beautiful and help us to endure the intense summer heat. Nacho encant.

[00:09:59]>> What a beautiful court. This is it's lovely. This patio.

[00:10:03][music] >> When do you think the the custom began of decorating the patio so beautifully?

[00:10:08]>> This is a tradition. The competition is 100 years.

[00:10:13]>> [music] >> Yes. And you compete each year?

[00:10:15]>> Yes. This year my my mother is a champion of Cordova is the first prize >> this is a old tradition. It's a special tradition of the mother and the son and the a tradition.

[00:10:32]>> What is the effect of living in a patio like this? Is is it actually quite cool?

[00:10:37]>> It's very fresh. This house is at seven grados. 7° >> 7° uh in the street. Okay. This is very fresh.

[00:10:45]>> 7° lower here than in the street because of water in the pots that makes the air a bit cooler. Does it?

[00:10:51]>> Yes. The air is cool.

[00:10:54]>> It is cooler, but watering 600 plant pots daily is a labor of love.

[00:11:04][music] >> We have an old system and a new system of watering.

[00:11:07]>> This is the old system. I put the water for example in this plant. Okay. Put the water.

[00:11:14]Okay. And the other plant to put the water.

[00:11:18]>> But you have to be so patient now.

[00:11:20]>> Special e professional.

[00:11:23]>> Three down, 597 to go.

[00:11:27]Fortunately, [music] Nacho has also embraced an easier way to water the pots at the top.

[00:11:32]>> Put the water It's very easy. Very easy. But still, it takes time. It's also a good way of getting cool because the water is actually cascading over me.

[00:11:50]>> Do you like see?

[00:11:52]>> I'm enjoying.

[00:11:59]>> Around 50 patios enter the competition each year.

[00:12:04]As with many Spanish traditions, its future isn't guaranteed.

[00:12:08]>> Today, there is a one problem. There isn't a young people.

[00:12:13]>> There aren't young people.

[00:12:14]>> A young people.

[00:12:15]>> Here's a young person.

[00:12:16]>> This is a young people of the patio.

[00:12:18]>> This is Nacho.

[00:12:20]>> And on him, on him, >> on him depends the future.

[00:12:24]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:12:38]It's so much cooler in your house than in the street. And I thank you very much for your hospitality.

[00:12:48]>> Nacho, >> my house whenever I want to come back.

[00:12:50]How nice. Thank you.

[00:12:53]Coming up, I'll prepare a feast fit for anime. It is thought that the califf allowed himself to drink alcohol. And I'll savor an Anderusian delicacy.

[00:13:04]>> Olive oil of this quality [music] is like wine.

[00:13:10]>> I'm continuing my journey through the Spanish region of Anderuthia, close at hand if you step off the golden beaches.

[00:13:17]The excursion will reward you with history and culture that help you to understand how modern Spain is shaped by its past.

[00:13:27]Cordoba, once Europe's largest city with strong Roman, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish influences, explains it all.

[00:13:41]I'm in Cordova Hudia, the Jewish quarter. Many southern Spanish cities have such a place which I suppose demonstrates that whilst Jews were from time to time tolerated they were confined to their own part of town and typically in a hua the streets are very narrow and windy. uh an Islamic street plan. Actually very practical because of the heat. Having the houses together gave you shade.

[00:14:09][music] In the 15th century, Spain was home to one of the largest Jewish [music] communities in the world.

[00:14:20]Today, there's a striking [music] legacy, but you must look to find it.

[00:14:26]Most unusually for a southern Spanish city, here we have a [music] synagogue.

[00:14:35]In [music] fact, this is the only preserved medieval synagogue in Ander Luthia.

[00:14:42]And beautifully preserved it is too.

[00:14:47]Interesting, isn't it, that the decoration is Arab in style. [music] Another example of the blending of the cultures. It's evidence that there was a vibrant and possibly quite large and important population of Jewish people in Cordoba.

[00:15:05]But [music] in 1492, the queen and king of Spain decided not only to expel all the Muslims but all the Jews as well unless they would convert [music] to Christianity.

[00:15:17]And so all those people were forced to leave. And uh there's scarcely any Jewish population in Spain [music] even today.

[00:15:26]And we're left with just this trace.

[00:15:30]But old seeds bring new growth. Today, Cordoba [music] has its first rabbi in over 500 years.

[00:15:44]I find it fascinating that Cordova's past unavoidably pushes its way into modern life.

[00:15:50]You can see it in the architecture and traditions of course, but also in the cuisine and as it's lunchtime.

[00:15:59]Should I have food that's influenced by the Jewish tradition or maybe by the Islamic or the stuff that Christians would eat which was not affected by the dietary restrictions of the other cuisines?

[00:16:12]But since I'm feeling hungry, I know the answer. All three.

[00:16:19]>> Hello Monica.

[00:16:20]>> Hello.

[00:16:21]>> How lovely to see you.

[00:16:22]>> Hello Michael.

[00:16:23]>> What a beautiful patio.

[00:16:25]>> Yes, it is a mix of the Cordovan cultures built over Arabic baths.

[00:16:32]>> The name of these bats was baths of the Pescadia dearia.

[00:16:36]>> Of the fishmonger of the fish district.

[00:16:38]>> Yes.

[00:16:40]Arabic floor, Roman and Islamic columns, and a kitchen that takes inspiration from all that and more.

[00:16:52]>> Hola.

[00:16:52]>> Hello, Michael. How are you?

[00:16:58]>> First up, Chef Juan is preparing my Islamic dish. So, these are >> oagene o what? Deep fried.

[00:17:13]Unlike potatoes, corn, and tomatoes that arrived from the new world with Columbus some 600 [music] years later, Oberene was a staple of the Islamic diet.

[00:17:24]Although here, Juan is finishing with a glaze containing cherry.

[00:17:32]alcohol.

[00:17:34]>> I think there's a bit of invention going on here saying that it is thought that the khalif allowed himself to drink alcohol even in Muslim times.

[00:17:44]>> I'm going to go and eat this. Do you have about 20 friends who are not doing anything this evening to help me?

[00:17:50][laughter] >> Okay, Michael. Ah, Monica, >> the califal uber. And we finish with the lamb.

[00:18:05]>> Very lovely. Look at that.

[00:18:08]>> Well, um, a banquet fit for a calif.

[00:18:13]Safardic lamb. Now, this has been soaked in honey.

[00:18:20][music] Absolutely gloriously sweet. Now eat my um oagene.

[00:18:27]A reminder of what Europe was like before we had things like tomatoes and corn.

[00:18:36][music] It tastes very deep fried full of honey again. Oagene donut. And to finish, a Christian pudding, red, milk, [clears throat] orange, cinnamon, fried in egg, and served with a coconut sauce and a vanilla ice cream and eaten in Holy Week.

[00:18:58]And the excuse being that people fast during Holy Week, so they need to have a lot of energy very, very quickly.

[00:19:07]It's like finding an excuse for Christmas pudding.

[00:19:16]>> [music] >> In a city with such a layered history of different cultures, it's a joy that you [music] need just to scratch the surface of these old buildings to reveal their extraordinary past.

[00:19:29]>> You welcome to our hotel.

[00:19:30]>> What a beautiful courtyard this is.

[00:19:32]>> Thank this is lovely. So, I'll stay in a 17th century monastery, delicately restored to become an intriguing hotel.

[00:19:42]What is the history?

[00:19:43]>> When we bought this house, it was almost green.

[00:19:46]>> I have a house in Cardamona and I had great fun restoring it and we had so many lovely surprises. Did you have any surprises?

[00:19:54]>> Yeah, a lot. For example, all these columns are movements.

[00:19:58]>> They're marvelous.

[00:19:59]>> Yeah.

[00:20:00]>> Anything Muslim? This one is Muslim. You find all these cultures.

[00:20:05]>> It's like a layer cake.

[00:20:08][laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:14]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:19]>> The hotel also boasts a roof terrace with a magnificent view across the city where one building arrogantly dominates the skyline.

[00:20:34]You can see how in congress is the Catholic cathedral with the messita into which it was built. The mosque was lowlying.

[00:20:44]Of course, some Islamic architecture did saw there had to be a tower from which the people could be called to prayer and there was one here but it has been encased and hidden within the Christian bell tower. You might say a case of religious triumphalism.

[00:21:06]As the bells summon worshippers to evening mass, it's time for me to find my room in the monastery. Much of the hotel has of course been rebuilt and modernized, but this wonderful door remains protecting my virtue.

[00:21:25]Bye-bye.

[00:21:29]>> [music] >> I'm in Ander Luthia showing you a city that I know [music] and love, Coroda, which is in the north of the [music] region.

[00:21:48]It's a city set apart from most others because there was a time here when Muslim and Jewish communities coexisted.

[00:21:55][music] The Christians expelled both Muslim and Jew more than 500 years ago. Yet in Anderuthia, the influence of history is strong.

[00:22:06]I'm not the only [music] Britain in town intrigued by that past.

[00:22:10]>> Uh ladies and gentlemen, may I interrupt you for a moment? How are you all?

[00:22:13]>> Very well.

[00:22:14]>> First visit to Cordoba.

[00:22:16]>> Yes.

[00:22:16]>> All right. And what do you think?

[00:22:18]>> Beautiful. Beautiful.

[00:22:19]>> You visited the mosque?

[00:22:20]>> Yes, we have. Oh, I thought it was fantastic. Amazing.

[00:22:23]>> Yes. Yes, it very much reminds me of um Medina in Saudi Arabia and the arches are copied I believe from from here.

[00:22:32]>> So you you've been there as well.

[00:22:33]>> I've been there as well. Yes.

[00:22:34]>> How did you feel about the fact that a cathedral had been built in the middle of it?

[00:22:38]>> Um well it's it's part of life isn't it?

[00:22:40]So >> these things these things you know >> when you come to Cordoba there are stories of tolerance. There are periods when Jews and Muslims and Christians live together >> and there are periods of intolerance.

[00:22:51]There are times when the Jews are expelled by the Muslims. There's a time when the Muslims and the Jews are expelled by the Christians. Do you come away from Cordoba feeling a bit depressed about all these expulsions or a bit optimistic because of all this living together?

[00:23:03]>> Optimistic.

[00:23:04]>> Optimist live together. Yeah, that's how it should be. Everyone should live together what religion you are, what color you are. So that's that's how it is.

[00:23:13]>> And we know it can be done because it has been done, hasn't it? So >> yes, that's my feeling. We know it can be done because it has been done. That's beautifully put if I may say so.

[00:23:21]Fantastic. It's been marvelous of me getting to know you for a few moments.

[00:23:24]Thank you very much.

[00:23:26]>> Enjoy. And Luthia.

[00:23:27]>> Yes. Thank you very much.

[00:23:28]>> Thank you. Thank you.

[00:23:34]>> Many visitors to Cordova don't venture beyond its ancient center and alas miss the Alcathar.

[00:23:42]It's an Arabic name of course, but what you see is a mighty Christian fortress looming over the Guadal Kir River.

[00:23:52]Many a tourist in Ander Luthia might give just a couple of hours to Cordoba but not coming here, skipping the Alcata, missing out on all this majesty and beauty and depriving themselves of visiting the place where a meeting occurred which would result in the world as we know it today.

[00:24:19]Built in the 14th century on the site of older forts, the Alkaath [music] became a royal residence of Queen Isabel and King Fernando, the monarchs responsible for pushing out the Muslim Empire and unifying Spain as a Catholic kingdom.

[00:24:38]It was in Cordova that they established the Spanish Inquisition and approved a voyage that fortuitously led Spain into an overseas empire and indescribable riches.

[00:24:54]Christopher Columbus had the brilliant idea of sailing west around the spherical globe to open a new trade route. Here at the Alcatha in Cordoba, he lobbyed Queen Isabel and King Fernando.

[00:25:09]His voyage would of course accidentally through miscalculation land him in the Americas, the first European contact.

[00:25:17]And the importance of that simply cannot be overstated. The gold made Spain extraordinarily rich and that new contact created what we know as the modern world.

[00:25:35]We mustn't overlook Cordova's place at that pivotal moment that would open the new world to Europeans.

[00:25:43]In that era, geography counted for so much. There was destiny in the course of a river.

[00:25:51]The Guavier [music] is not Spain's longest river, but I would argue that it is the most important. It used to be navigable all the way down to the distant Atlantic Ocean. And the Romans spanned it with this beautiful arched structure which was until modern times the last bridge between here and the ocean. And it was from this river that Christopher Columbus sailed and made the European discovery of the Americas. And thereafter Spain developed an empire.

[00:26:23]And up the estry of this river came gallions groaning with gold.

[00:26:31]That wealth changed under Luia and the whole of Spain.

[00:26:37]More than 1500 years earlier, Cordova had become a great city because of the Guadal Kavir and the bridge built in a feat of engineering by the Romans.

[00:26:49]They made it a great port, shipping olive oil, which is still one of Anderluthia's greatest exports.

[00:26:59]Today, Anderuthia boasts 70 million olive trees, many of them in the huge man-made groves [music] surrounding the city of Cordoba.

[00:27:10]80% of Spain's olive oil is produced in the region. Staggeringly, Anderuthia supplies the world with a third of its olive oil. Hola, >> Luis, >> Michael.

[00:27:22]>> Michael, >> nice to see you.

[00:27:23]>> Is it okay to step inside?

[00:27:25]>> You can go.

[00:27:30]>> This is a cathedral of olive oil.

[00:27:33]It's absolutely amazing.

[00:27:39]All across Anderuthia, thousands of small holders bring their olives to cooperatives like this one, where they're processed into exceptional quality oil before being sold in Spain and abroad from the United States to China. Have you any idea how many olive farmers send their olives to you?

[00:27:59]>> I think there are about 5,000 families.

[00:28:02]>> 5,000 families, which emphasizes the importance to the economy.

[00:28:08]Each of the 40 stainless steel tanks towering above us is designed to hold 62,000 gallons. In total, at full capacity, almost 2 12 million gallons of virgin Spanish [music] olive oil.

[00:28:23]>> During the last four years, lack of rain, very high temperatures. So this year, we have the half the vitual quantity in these tanks. half >> less than half because the lack of rain and the high temperatures are terrible.

[00:28:37]70% of the all trees are fed with the rain. So we don't have irrigation for the trees. So we depends for for the rain.

[00:28:44]>> Is this a crisis for Andaluthia?

[00:28:46]>> All the families in Andal Lucia, they leave from the olive trees.

[00:28:51]>> So if we lose the olive trees, it would be a disaster for for Andia.

[00:28:58]Ander Luthia has always battled the heat, but with every summer heat wave, a new record temperature, the problem for olive farmers grows worse.

[00:29:10][music] Franiscoco has been farming olives for 10 years.

[00:29:15]We're not yet on his territory, but this ground under the olive trees is very bare. nothing growing because it's been treated with herbicides and pesticides.

[00:29:27]To combat a warming climate, Francisco [music] is turning to the past on his 230 hectares set high in the hills.

[00:29:42]The >> sheep are here.

[00:29:59]and everything was in natural balance.

[00:30:01]But then human beings have come along and they've torn up everything, taken away everything that was uh natural and then we have absolutely soaked the place with herbicides and insecticides.

[00:30:16]So for the last four years, Francisco has been trying something different with impressive results. The olive leaves are brought back from the olive press and they're spread on the land and the excent from the sheep also is mulched up and this creates a mulch [snorts] which stops the radiation penetrating the earth to the same extent and it leads to less evaporation. What I see here is the clearest demarcation between two systems of agriculture. It really is like uh day and night. Uh this is barren and stony and washed away. And this is uh beautifully green. I can only imagine what this would be like in spring. A riot of wild flowers and grasses.

[00:31:06]I'm about to discover how it tastes.

[00:31:11]This looks great. Francisco insists that it's amongst the finest olive oil in the world.

[00:31:20]And at about30 a liter, you would expect it to be. I suppose that um olive oil of this quality is like wine that you have to taste it in a particular way.

[00:31:38]This is pica which is um indigenous to here.

[00:31:55]So we have um quite a thick oil here is sticking to the side of the glass.

[00:32:09]You know, it's like cut grass.

[00:32:24]So, Francisco has told me to move the oil from the tip of my tongue to the back of my tongue.

[00:32:31]And he's tipped me off that here I'll notice the sweetness. Along the sides of my tongue, I'll notice the bitterness in the back of my throat. I will feel the pepperiness. [music] And it's absolutely true.

[00:32:51]>> [music] >> Coming up. What is that thing? I battle a one stone omelette.

[00:33:10]For my last afternoon here, I've returned to Cororba's medieval center.

[00:33:16]In late July, in one of the hottest cities in Europe, the temperatures can reach high into the 40s.

[00:33:27]In southern Spain, it is a constant battle against the heat. And the answer since at least Roman times has been water. Water everywhere.

[00:33:42]The flowing water cools a fevered brow and keeps the gracious Cordova serene and beautiful despite the heat.

[00:33:58]I'm heading towards my final rendevous.

[00:34:02]On the way, I've timed to pop into a cafe recommended for its location and for a bizarre claim to fame.

[00:34:14]What is that thing?

[00:34:30]Well, I never. That is amazing. 30 eggs worth 7 kilos of potato weighing 8 kilos all together. Let's just check that.

[00:34:45]>> See, people come from all over the world for your tortilla.

[00:34:59]Yes, I will uh I will be the judge.

[00:35:05]It's still warm.

[00:35:10]It's really good.

[00:35:16]>> It was It was invented here.

[00:35:21]Flamingco.

[00:35:25]No.

[00:35:26]>> No.

[00:35:28][laughter] Bueno. Bueno. [laughter] But what a song. The song is Give me poison. Give me poison. [laughter] I want to die. Give me poison. I prefer it to living with you. [laughter] My hunger sated, I'm heading across town to meet a man who keeps alive one of the city's ancient [music] skills.

[00:36:19]>> Hola, Danielle. What a beautiful house.

[00:36:21]Is this a family house?

[00:36:22]>> Yeah, my grandfather is the first person who who lived here.

[00:36:27]>> Cordobin leatherwork is Danielle's lifelong passion. He inherited his skills from his grandfather, a man who, like my father, was cast out of Spain by the civil war of the late 1930s.

[00:36:43]>> Why did your grandfather start a leather business?

[00:36:45]>> My grandfather, he was a famous painter in Cordoba. But when the war was in Spain, >> the civil war.

[00:36:53]>> Yes. My grandfather not Republican, but this is is a sympathy. That's how >> he he was a sympathizer.

[00:37:01]>> My grandfather have to go to France because it was going to kill because in this moment it was impossible to stay in Spain.

[00:37:10]>> My father's story is similar. He was out of Spain for 20 years. 20 years that he couldn't come back.

[00:37:18]In 1940, Danielle's grandfather did return but was sent to prison for 5 years.

[00:37:26]On his release, he started a business producing [music] cordobin decorated leather. Despite roots that go back to before the Muslim Empire of the Middle Ages, the art had nearly died out.

[00:37:40]This is the more elaborate technique, Guadi. So here the leather has been worked with surfaces of gold and silver.

[00:37:49]Imagine that that whole rooms, whole walls in castles would be lined in this beautiful leather with the gold and silver work.

[00:38:01]Too complicated for me to try. [music] Danielle is going to show me Cordovven, an embossing technique developed in the 8th century and still used on exquisite goods from handbags to cushions.

[00:38:18]We start with fine lamb's leather and we have to put the pattern into it.

[00:38:43]My goodness, this is so um exquisite.

[00:39:01]I see.

[00:39:02]The next stage is to create the embossed relief on this very expensive leather.

[00:39:09]>> I find this rather terrifying.

[00:39:12]>> You're you're very nervous.

[00:39:13]>> No.

[00:39:15]>> Danielle has introduced a modern twist to this otherwise ancient skill.

[00:39:21]>> Plus, my goodness. So to give it some relief, you just build it up underneath with with little bits of plasticine.

[00:39:32][music] >> Well, and now applying pressure to bring out that relief. But my goodness, what patience [music] you need. Just doing this little corner has taken a while.

[00:39:56]>> [laughter] >> How beautiful.

[00:40:00]>> Oh, thank you very much. So, this is a traveler's diary.

[00:40:05]>> What a lovely gift.

[00:40:16]The deep fragrance of long cord tradition.

[00:40:21]My little leather book [music] is a metaphor for a city equipped for the modern age, but shaped by history of which it's justly proud.

[00:40:34]Roman armies from the east seized Cordoba, [music] representing the ancient world. Muslim invaders from the south occupied [music] the city for 500 years, bringing a new culture. Christian forces from the north restored the old order and Christopher Columbus sought permission here to sail out west and towards the European discovery of a new world. I always enjoy [music] coming to Cordova but I believe that on this occasion I've understood that the city stands at the crossroads of European history.

[00:41:15]influences from the four points of the compass. Not everyone in Cordoba has studied history, but the past is obvious in their buildings. It flows beneath their bridge. It can be heard in their language, and it [music] enriches their food.

[00:41:42][music]