Medina Az Zahara was a palace and administrative complex built by Caliph Abd Rahman III who named it after his favourite wife which also means the radiant.
Excerpts from Rough Guide to Andalucia:
"10,000 workers and 1500 mules and camels were employed in the construction of Medina Az Zahara....In addition to the palace buildings, the complex contained a zoo, an aviary, four huge fish ponds, 300 baths, 400 houses, weapon factories, two barracks for the royal guard as well as numerous markets, workshops and mosques..... According to chronicles, visitors were stunned by its wealth and brilliance: one conference room contained a pile of pure crystals, creating a rainbow when lit by the sun; another was built round a huge shallow bowl of mercury which, when the sun rays fell on it, would be rocked by a slave, sending sunbeams reflected from its surface flashing and whizzing around the room, apparently alarming guests but greatly amusing the caliph".
What I saw that misty morning of 1st March, 2009 was ruins; ony a tenth of the original site had been excavated since its first rediscovery in 1905. Much of the place is still buried under the slopes and green pasture, on which I saw cows grazing. Concerted efforts to preserve the area only began in 1960s. Several reconstructed parts of the area reveal that the architecture is much the same as the contemporary Moors design of the time, similar to the design of the Mezquita in Cordoba city.
As we leave Medina Az Zahara for Toledo some 400km away, the view of much loved orange trees and extensive olive groves that had accompanied our journey throughout Andalucia passed by us. These trees are almost non-existent in Toledo nor Madrid.
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