Below are some of my favorite pics from a trip to Cordoba and Madrid in Southern/Central Spain. Cordoba was once the capital of the Western Umayyad Caliphate. In the 10th century it was one of the largest cities in the world and one of the world's major centres for advanced learning and studies. Historically, Cordoba is seen as one of the key cities that enabled knowledge transfer to Western Europe, ushering in the Renaissance.