Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Things with Edges

 EDGING TO WORK…

For this week’s challenge, I’ve decided to take you for a walk along the edges I see every morning on my way to work.

I park my car at the University of Cordoba’s main office. This twentieth-century neo-Moorish building, used to be the Faculty of Veterinary Science, before it was transferred to another larger building, outside the town. The edges are both round and square. In any case they jut out majestically into the morning air. More information on Moorish architecture.

 

As I walk on I come across this ancient Roman Wall, rugged with age, which was later rebuilt by the Muslim, and later Northern Spanish Castilian conquerors, and is currently viewed by tourists in awe of past times when soldiers bearing bows and arrows would defend their town.

 

The next corner which catches my eye is a round corner, with a Bougainvillea drawn on its whitewashed walls. A pretty idea!

 

To the right and along the way, little pillars, perhaps, Roman, perhaps, Muslim, in any case, proudly reused to hold up a newer, taller building. Time merges into the edges of space…

 

This is the edge of the Faculty of Arts, where I work in the afternoons. It used to be a Palace, then a hospital for the poor, and now all the classrooms have long windows and small balconies. The wooden shutters bear tragic inscriptions with names and dates of ailing patients.

 

The most magnificent edge I see is the Mosque, built over a Visigothic Temple, whose remains can be visited. The Mosque has been Christianized by various Renaissance architects and its walls are covered with images of Catholic saints, there’s even a Cathedral inside!

 

The next edge is the base of a column to Saint Rafael, Protector of the city. This is the edge of his ornamented pedestal, overlooking the river. Just behind it on the left is the Posada del Potro, which is mentioned by Cervantes in Don Quixote.

The edges of this fountain, which is now a refreshing decoration, were used by horses less than half a century ago, to lean on as they quenched their thirst.

 

The edges of a shady park I often walk through, before I cross the final main road, into the more modern part of the city.

I’m nearly there. I don’t like these edges very much, but I’m sure there are hundreds of people living inside, who manage to make homes out of those sharp ugly corners.

 

This is the final edge I come across, before I go inside the Adult Education Centre where I work in the mornings, and some evenings.

I’ve walked a few centuries in the last twenty-five minutes.

Two conclusions to my walk.

Firstly, the (comparatively) new neighbourhood, is much uglier…I much prefer the older buildings, don’t you?

Secondly, when my final walk is over, most of these edges will still be there… What a thought! How ephemeral life is and how lasting edges can be in contrast…

One wish: I wish for more beautiful edges, everywhere…

By the way, thanks Cee for inspiring me to look at edges as I had never done before!

Have a look at some of this week’s other entries