The Casa de las Siete Cabezas in Córdoba sits quietly on Calle Cabezas, deep in the old Jewish quarter, carrying stories that blur the line between history and legend. I've walked through many historic houses across Andalusia, but few feel as layered with time as this medieval manor.

What strikes you first isn't the architecture, though it's beautiful enough. It's the weight of the stories these walls hold. The most famous tale involves Gonzalo Gustios, father of the Seven Princes of Lara, who was supposedly imprisoned here by Almanzor in the 10th century. According to the legend, he had to witness his seven sons' severed heads displayed on the small adjacent street's arches. Whether you believe it or not, the story has shaped this place for centuries.

The house reveals its secrets gradually. In the basement, you'll find Roman remains including an ancient pool that later served a very different purpose. When Juan de Córdoba, a wealthy converso merchant, owned the property in the 15th century, he apparently used it as a clandestine synagogue. The discovery of a mikvé (ritual bath) and a rare women's gallery supports this theory. It didn't end well for him - the Inquisition burned him along with over 150 others in 1504, one of the largest autos-da-fé in Spanish history.

The house itself is structured around four courtyards, each serving as breathing spaces in Córdoba's intense summers. Walking through them, you get a genuine sense of how medieval nobility lived. The wooden galleries, Mudejar arches, and intricate ceiling work aren't museum pieces - they're part of a lived-in structure that has continuously evolved.

After years as a museum, the building recently transformed into a luxury hotel, which feels appropriate given its long history of adaptation. The famous Callejón de los Arquillos with its seven brick arches still runs alongside, where legend says those princes' heads once hung.

An audio guide helps untangle the complex historical layers if you're staying there or visiting. The stories interconnect - Roman foundations, medieval legends, Jewish persecution, Inquisition terror. It's Córdoba's medieval past made tangible, though you'll need to separate historical fact from centuries of storytelling. Sometimes, though, the legends feel just as real as the stones.