What to see in the Judería, Córdoba's Jewish quarter, and in what order

The Synagogue first

It stands at number 20, Calle Judíos ('Jews' Street') and is the only Jewish temple left in the city. An inscription on the east wall dates it to 1314 and 1315. It served as a synagogue until the expulsion of 1492, was then put to other uses and was declared a National Monument in 1885.

It is a small building. You enter through a courtyard and a vestibule, and the prayer hall is a square of about 40 square metres whose walls are covered in Mudéjar plasterwork: interlaced patterns, plant motifs and Hebrew inscriptions taken from the Book of Psalms. On the east wall was the hejal, the niche where the Torah scrolls were kept. High on the south wall is the women's gallery, with three small balconies.

It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 15:00, including the public holidays on which it opens, and the last visitors are let in ten minutes before closing. It is closed on Mondays unless the Monday is a holiday or the eve of one. Admission is free for EU citizens with ID and costs €0.30 for everyone else, so carry a coin. Groups of more than six must book.

A walking route that makes sense

This order runs south to north, from the Mosque-Cathedral to the city wall, with no doubling back:

• Calleja de las Flores. A dead-end alley north of the Mosque-Cathedral, with flowerpots on the walls, ending in a tiny square with a view of the Cathedral tower.
• Plaza de Maimónides. The Museo Taurino (Bullfighting Museum) is at number 3, and Calle Judíos starts here.
• Capilla de San Bartolomé. A Mudéjar chapel inside the university's Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, on Calle Averroes.
• Plaza de Tiberíades. A small square on Calle Judíos with the statue of Maimonides, the philosopher and physician born in Córdoba.
• Zoco Municipal de Artesanía. The courtyard of the Casa de las Bulas, with craft workshops.
• The Synagogue, at Calle Judíos, 20.
• Casa de Sefarad, beside the Synagogue, on the corner of Calle Averroes.
• Puerta de Almodóvar. The end of Calle Judíos and the way out of the walled town.

The Zoco and Plaza de Maimónides

The Zoco Municipal de Artesanía opened in 1954 in a 16th-century manor house known as the Casa de las Bulas. Inside is a two-storey Mudéjar courtyard with orange and palm trees, wrought-iron lanterns and flowerpots on the balconies, and around it the workshops and displays of Córdoba craftspeople. It is a place to step into, wander round and watch the craftspeople at work.

The Museo Taurino is at Plaza de Maimónides, 3. It is a municipal museum: on the winter timetable it opens Tuesday to Friday 8:15 to 20:15, Saturdays 9:30 to 17:30, and Sundays and holidays 8:15 to 14:15, and a general ticket costs €4.91 on the official online site. Under-17s and Córdoba residents do not pay.

The Chapel of San Bartolomé and the Casa de Sefarad

The Capilla de San Bartolomé is Mudéjar, like the Synagogue, and seeing both on the same day lets you compare two Mudéjar buildings made for different faiths. Its hours and price change with the season and we could not confirm them in an up-to-date official source, so check at the door or at a tourist office before planning your morning around it.

The Casa de Sefarad is a private museum about Sephardic tradition (Sefarad is the Hebrew name for Spain). It occupies a house that keeps much of its 14th-century structure and has collections, a library, a documentation centre and a shop. We do not give its hours or price either, because we could not check them on its own website.

The Almodóvar Gate and the city wall

The Jewish quarter was entered through the Puerta de Almodóvar, which still stands at the end of Calle Judíos. Stretches of the wall survive on either side. It is a good place to start the route in reverse if you arrive from Paseo de la Victoria.

A little context helps. After the Christian conquest of 1236, a charter recognised the rights of Córdoba's Jews and assigned them a quarter. In 1391 the quarter was attacked and looted for three days, and in 1492 came the decree of expulsion. The quarter is part of the historic centre that UNESCO listed as World Heritage in 1994.

How long it takes and when it is quiet

With the Synagogue, the Zoco and the full walk, a morning is plenty. Add the Bullfighting Museum or the Casa de Sefarad and it fills the whole morning.

The Synagogue opens at 9:00, and the general visit to the Mosque-Cathedral does not start until 10:00 from Monday to Saturday. In our experience that first hour is the quietest on Calle Judíos, because groups tend to reach the quarter after the Mosque-Cathedral. After 15:00 the Synagogue is shut, but the streets are usually emptier and it is a good time for photographs in the Calleja de las Flores.

In summer, walk the route early. The streets are narrow and shaded, but at midday in July and August the heat is fierce all the same.

Mondays, children and wheelchairs

The Synagogue and the Bullfighting Museum close on Mondays. The street route works just the same: the squares, the Calleja de las Flores and the Almodóvar Gate do not depend on any timetable.

With children, the walk is short and traffic-free. The Synagogue's hall takes only a few minutes, about as long as their patience lasts.

The streets are narrow and cobbled. The Zoco has a lift, according to the city's own listing. The regional government publishes no accessibility details for the Synagogue, so ask ahead if you use a wheelchair.

What to combine it with

The Mosque-Cathedral is right next to the quarter. Early risers can go in free from 8:30 to 9:30, Monday to Saturday, and walk straight to the Synagogue as it opens.

To round things off, the Museo Arqueológico, a few streets from the Judería, holds the tombstone of Yehuda bar Akon, from the mid-9th century, the only physical trace of the Jewish presence in Córdoba under the Umayyad emirs. It opens Tuesday to Saturday until 21:00 in winter and is also free for EU citizens (€1.50 for others).

This is a quarter that makes more sense with someone to explain it. Official tourist guides tell you what the façades do not: where the limits of the Jewish community lay, what the Synagogue's inscriptions say and who Maimonides was.