Woke up in the port of Cadiz, Spain around 8:20am this
morning and am so surprised at how smoothly this ship is brought in and docked.
We must have a superb crew and captain. And they list the Navigation for the
night before and how we’ll be approaching out next morning’s destination. This
is what was written in our “Today – The Daily Programme” leaflet the give us
each night before bed. “Around 6:00am the Spanish coast will become visible, an
hour later we will pass St. Sebastian Castle which is about 2.5 miles on our
right hand side and soon after will embark the pilot who will help navigate us
in to port, where we anticipate our arrival to be around 9:00am. Cadiz is a Spanish city of just over 128,500
inhabitants and is situated in the autonomous region of Andalusia and is the
chief town of that province. After our
departure we will travel in a westerly direction and will be passing Cap Saint
Vincent, and her famous lighthouse Sara will be visible at the bow at around
midnight.” I guess that must be the only other feminine named lighthouse in
Spain as per the information we read about the Malaga lighthouse the other day.
No one showed up for the morning walk so I just headed down
to breakfast early. I think everyone was just exhausted from yesterday’s
adventure and slept in.
Mom and I headed out around 10am and right when you exit the
port terminal you come to the central part of the city and wow, it is simply
stunning here. It actually looks a lot at first like Casablanca with all the
white washed buildings but then you take a few steps into the city and you
automatically see there is no comparison at all. Cadiz is truly one of the
cleanest cities I’ve ever been in. They seem completely obsessed with
cleanliness and this place is so well kept and beautiful both in its natural
wonders like pristine beaches (rated one of the best in Europe) and the manmade
ones that are not just limited to the cathedral and ancient fortresses but to
the ordinary apartment buildings that are painted in pastel colors or the
gorgeous, gleaming white that seems to be the trade mark of this region or the
world.
We took the hop-on-hop-off bus tour which picked you up
directly in front of the port exit. The whole experience, from our first few
steps into the city to when we arrived safely back on board was a pleasure and
the people are so friendly and accommodating although they don’t speak much
English. I’ll have to look up job listings for ESL teachers when I have more
internet time. It would be amazing to live there although it is not warm in
winter; not as cold as NYC or Boston, but not as warm as you would imagine
Southern Spain to be.
The full trip on the bus takes a little over an hour which
is what we opted to do first to get a lay for the land and see where we’d want
to get off at some point and explore. The history of Cadiz is fascinating and
it is one of the first cities and is over 3,000 years old. There are not many
remnants of the Ancient city left but the oldest seems to be a Roman theatre
that they excavated and found it was the 2nd largest in Ancient
Roman times, second only to the one in Pompeii.
They were able to recover only 11 stone seating areas but that is
certainly impressive when you consider its age and that Cadiz has been a
thriving metropolis for so many centuries after.
After the initial go around we got off at the City Centre
stop where the Cathedral is and it is truly an impressive sight with a golden
dome that was initially tiled that way to reflect the sun light off of it and
so ships could see the city from a great distance at sea. Columbus apparently started his 2nd
journey to America from this port.
We walked around the Cathedral which has unique bricks used
in parts of the structure, particularly visible in the back outside wall facing
the ocean. The bricks are a combination
of sand, sea shells and stones and they are massive and a golden sandy
color. I got a close up of one of them
where you can actually see the shell, incredibly beautiful.
The beach, although not a warm day, was pretty busy with
surfers. The waves were fairly large so I imagine with a wet suit the chill is
not felt as much. There was also a
fisherman out in the distance as it was low tide and in one of the ocean
pictures look closely and you’ll see a man in red in the distance.
While we were in this part of town we stopped for some tapas
in a quiet restaurant off the main square. We had thin slices of pork and some
spicy sausage with fresh bread. It was just the perfect amount of food for a
snack and I love tapas because you can try different foods for very little
money. Each plate usually consists of a 3 of 4 small bites of something and
perfect for sharing.
While we were in the main square, Piazza di San Juan de
Dios, where City Hall stands we listened to protestors voicing their opinions
to the elected officials inside about the high unemployment rate. There were only about 12 men but they were
loud and mom chatted with one man who explained their plight. You can see her
talking to him in this picture.
We then went to the San Juan de Dios church which is right
next door and mom had hoped we’d see the bride who was clearly expected as all
her family and friends were gathered outside in their best fancy clothes and
one women told us the bride must walk through town before the ceremony which it
turns out wasn’t in the church at all but in City Hall. We waited a little
while but never saw the bride and I enjoyed a green apple frozen yogurt at a
place called Smooy’s and mom kept herself busy chatting with people and going
over to a group of women raising money for breast cancer. She bought two
bracelets from them, one to give to my aunt Chicky who has recently and
thankfully survived her second battle with the disease.
So again we were off and back on the bus to go to stop
number 9 the Genoves Park which is a small botanical garden and the only green
park in the city center. It was
developed, I’m not sure how many years ago, by one of the mayors a Juan
something or other who didn’t seem to like that the park, when he was mayor was
known as Parsley Park because it had so little vegetation so he invested the
cities funds in making it a beautiful place with a waterfall and lots of exotic
plants from around the world. As you can see from the picture of the main
promenade area, there are different varieties of trees and many that are
sculptured and manicured to look very fanciful.
The waterfall oddly enough has a dinosaur theme. Don’t ask me why but it
was kind of cute and they have a large pen with ducks and geese that play in
the pool of water.
The park also has a group (I would say all related) of black
and white cats, about 10 or 15. They all seems pretty well fed, some pretty
large actually and there were even two small black kittens, so cute. A local woman and gave them a can of food but
I would imagine since they all looked pretty healthy that others feed them or
they feast on their own version of Spanish Tapas, the local rodent population
that must surely roam around the docks and seaside. It makes you just want to
take them all home but I did feel better that they seemed loved, fed and
appreciated and nice that they had such a marvelous park to roam and play in
away from traffic.
We stopped in at a modern luxury hotel for a bathroom break,
the Parador Hotel Atlantico. It was gorgeous inside and clean bathroom which
mom proceeded to get herself locked into. I had to get the security guard who
was about to get the door open for her but she managed to unlock it right
before he arrived. He was so sweet and seemed to understand all too well the
propensity for people to get stuck in there.
Next stop the Playa de la Calata beach which is one of the
most popular with the Castello di San Sebastien in the distance reached only by
a long cause way and the Castello di Santa Catalina in the distance on the
other side. I really loved this beach
because the tide was low and all the sail boats were just sitting on the beach
and you could walk right up to them, which you can imagine we absolutely did.
We went in search of a rock or shell to take as we have been collecting them
for years when we’ve travelled. We found
two exquisite examples of these unique medium sized to small rocks (or rather
combination of rocks, shells, sand and other natural marine materials.) Two men
nearby explained that they were formed over a long period of time and through
the constant movement in the ocean and along the beaches. The older man said to
smell it and the younger one explained in English that for a very long, long
time we’ll always be able to smell the sea, just inhale.
As you can see there is a lack of pictures, my camera’s
batteries ran out. I’m sorry I missed the opportunity to take pictures of the
great rock hunt but sometimes you do just need to be present in the moment and
not be worried about pictures or blogs.
We took the bus to the other side of town to the shopping
center of Cadiz, stop number 12. I
needed to buy batteries but it was siesta and the only stores open where in
this center. It’s like a nicer version of Walmart. We shopped around a bit and
bought some little Spanish treats to bring back to Jean Marie, batteries and
water.
One last stop near the ship at the Mundo Kabab restaurant
because they had free wifi and I could post yesterday’s blog and check email.
We each had a chicken sandwich and the staff were so lovely. I think just about
anyone would appreciate the beauty of Cadiz as well as the open and generous
hospitality. It’s a phenomenal place and I can’t imagine with all the friends I
have who have traveled the world no one has ever told me about this place. Well
for those who haven’t been and if you’re coming to this part of the world, do
put this city on your list of must sees. It’s worth every moment and I’m so
happy it was part of our cruise schedule. We initially thought about taking the
tour to Seville, Spain that the cruise offered but I’m so glad we just chose to
stay put. Seville is more famous, clearly but if you only have on day to visit
Cadiz is just as enchanting and worthwhile and maybe even more so although I’ve
never been to Seville.
The day ended with a nice dinner where we saw a rainbow
ending directly over the city of Cadiz, so exciting and you can see it in this
picture just look to the right of the picture and look closely.
We attended the evening performance of Duo
Deltai, featuring two extraordinary acrobats who despite the moving ship
miraculously kept their balance with the exception of one fall but fortunately
a small one. There were several times when I found myself holding my breath
during some of the routines where they were the smaller man was balanced one on
top of the other man’s shoulders while he bent down in a seated position over
the back of a chair.
So now I sit in the ships library just typing up the blog so
it will be ready to post from somewhere out in Lisbon tomorrow. And I just set
my watch back and hour for daylight savings time. Thankfully the cruise
director, Gaetano, reminded us all in each of our languages. We have Italian,
French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and English and he seems to speak them all
fluently.
Brief history of Cadiz from information provided by Costa
and some materials provided by the city of Cadiz:
“The Andalusian city port of Cadiz, the region’s Episcopal
seat, enjoys a spectacular setting overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at the end of
a 9 kilometre strip of land and connected to the mainland by a bridge. Walls up to 15-metres high protect the city
from the volatile sea which averages at least two metres difference between
high and low tide. The Cadiz skyline is
particularly attractive, featuring hundreds of white-washed houses with
balconies and flat roofs, punctuated by numerous “miradores” – small circular
towers – which gave rise to the city’s nickname of “taza de plata” – Silver
Cup. Streets lined with palm trees and
various parks add to the atmosphere. The
oldest city on the Iberian Peninsula, Cadiz was founded by the Phoenicians in
around 1100 B.C., and later occupied by the Carthaginians who used the city as
a base for which to enter Southern Spain.
Gadir would become the base of the Mediterranean and Atlantic trade
routes of the time.
Under the name of Gades, the city was one of the most
important communities in the Roman province of Hispania. Muslim rule began in 711 with the Islamic
conquest of the peninsula. King Alfonso
X, The Wise, ousted the Moors from Cadiz in 1262 and repopulated the town,
which received its city character in 1265.
After the death of the Marques of Cadiz, Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, the
city came under the Crown of Castile in 1493.
The 16th century saw the renaissance of the city,
as its port became the main commercial port for trade with the recently
discovered New World. When the Casa de
Contratacion or House of Trade was moved from Seville to Cadiz in 1717, the
city held the monopoly on trade with the Americas.
Cadiz’s golden age during the 18th century shaped
the urban development of this city. In
this favorable environment, Cadiz welcomed the politicians who took refuge in
the city, which was besieged by Napoleon’s troops that ruled Spain. There, they constituted the legislative
assembly or Cortes Generales and drafted the first Spanish Constitution, La
Pepa, in 1812.
The city of Cadiz is currently a well-established tourist
destination, where congress, leisure and beach, cultural, cruise and
gastronomic tourism has opened up new ways of development.”
