Day 11
Friday, Feb. 26, 2010
Burton Harmon and Michael Marlow
We met with Louis our guide. That is the same in English or Spanish. He has lived here 51 years. It is his home town. We walked down to the Jewish quarter. The Romans founded the town over 2000 years ago. There are 17 to 18 original streets in the city. The houses are not original. It was put on the register as a National monument of Spain in 1885. Judios Street it was the original main street of the Jewish quarter since the 12 Th centuries. It means street of the Jews. It was taken over by the Muslims in the 8th century and as Mosque was built in the city center. 65% of Spain was Muslin during the occupation form 812 to 1492.
This was built on the original sight of St Vincent the MartyrChurch that was built in the year 589.
We then went to the Catholic Cathedral which was originally built as a Mosque in the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries. In 1492 it was converted to a Cathedral by the Catholic Church. In 929 Muslim Cordoba had 500,000 people. With all religions living in peace. In the 11th century the Caliphate of the Kingdom started to break up as the family fought for power. The breakdowns of the kingdom lead to the eventual decline of the Muslim power and the eventual decline of the kingdom. Currently, the city is considered nearly 100% Christian Roman Catholic.
There were 4 building periods for the current Cathedral during the Muslim mosque period. Each period during the Muslin ownership was to add more space for a growing population. To build this Mosque in a hurry the Muslims used parts form Roman buildings including the columns of granite, marble and alabaster. The last addition by the Muslims used more uniform and less elaborate construction materials. This was very obvious during our tour.
Within the facility there are three Muslim parts. The high tower, now bell tower, the purification room and the Catholic high alter. Today as a Cathedral there is a choir section made of mahogany wood from America. They use the small alter for weekday masses in the choir section. On Sunday and holidays they use the high alter for masses.
There are so many beautiful paintings, sculptures and carvings in this Cathedral it would take half a day to even pay attention to the details. It was worth spending more time.
The streets are mostly for pedestrians or taxi’s and are used by the Spaniards every day. This makes walking around corners somewhat dangerous.
Deep Thoughts by Louis our Guide:
Dogs are nice friendly companions. Having a dog makes you a slave.
When you have time you have no money. When you have money you have no time.
Men have the last word, always, “yes, my dear”.
Men are also slaves to their wives just like dogs.
Bueno-bueno
Well, well,,,,well.
The train trip was very fast at high speed. We travelled from Cordoba to Madrid via high speed train. We all loaded in to the train like seasoned European travelers. The train traveled 250 kph. About 150 mph for us Americans.
After arriving in Madrid we went to the US Embassy. We met a bunch of people.
Arantxa Medina, Laura Jenz, Peg Thursland, Angela Turrin, Marta, Cameron and the Ambassador Allen Selamant. We have cards and presentations on file for you at the web site. Thanks Joe.
If you want to do exports you need to work with one of 180 US Commercial Service offices like the ones in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. When you are ready to work with a country like Spain you can contact the US Commercial Service department in Spain or other countries. There they are waiting to help you promote and sell your products for export. Go to for more information. To use these services for Export assistance 51% of your product, technology or production have to be US based.
Q&A
Marta answered a question about climate change. The EU is disappointed that the US and China are not following their lead to reduce emissions by 20% by the year 2020.
Brent asked about the grain production trend. They had a 30% decrease in 2009 due to a combination of drought, low prices for winter crops at planting and a great crop in 2008.
Question of biotech acceptance. Spain is the main biotech supporter with Bt corn in the north. The EU has new limits of bio-tech contamination levels to help with trade flow.
Skipper asked about where to start and the answer was one of your two state offices in OKC or Tulsa to prepare your company for export before you go out to Spain,
Entz asked about the trend in buying and trade with the current Spanish economy. The answer was everything that can be done to prepare the exporters. Buying has slowed. We are preparing for the future.