June 17, 2018

The second day of our stay in Cadiz, turns out to be a great day, with the sun shining, and the temperature hovering in the high 20s. A wonderful day to continue to discover the city of Gadis as this place was known during Roman times. The guide pamphlet which we are using to discover this city, indicates that the people from here are referred to as gaditanos.

We decided to explore the city’s produce market, similar to our Victoria market, and to buy items for today’s breakfast. There were all sorts of aromas here, from fish to olives, fresh wood fired oven baked bread to all kinds of meats. Our senses got a real treat this morning. After buying coffee and a variety of fruits, we continued our search for croissants. Eventually not only finding these at a local panadería- bakery – but also pastel de nata. We bought one of each.

With breakfast out of the way, we decided to go back to the cathedral, as Pedro was now ready to climb its tower and have a look inside as well as go down to its cripta.

We also went to see the old cathedral, the church of Santa Cruz. This was originally a mosque, and according to the info in the pamphlet provided by the church, King Alfonso X – the wise king, ordered it to be built there in 1262. This church was attacked by the Dutch forces in the 1590s and was afterwards remodeled. One particular and interesting piece of this church, is its large altar made of gold leaf wood.

Next to the old cathedral is a museum, which details the history of religion and religious art in this era over the centuries. Apart from the paintings and other artifacts which can be seen in this museum, I was impressed by the building itself. This was clearly an old mosque at same stage, so the architecture was in that style, with interior patios and balconies. As it was also modified over the centuries, to incorporate Christian elements, the building provided an example of the fusion of these two cultures that is so often found in the Iberian Peninsula. I enjoyed my time exploring this museum.

Today is Saturday, so as lunch time approached we start to search for a restaurant with a daily menu on its carta. Well, the daily menu, according to Pedro, was probably available only on weekdays, and only for lunchtime. His prediction proved to be right. So, lunch today, was to be from the a la carte menu. Meaning we were going to be treated like tourists and would have to pay a much higher price for lunch this’s day. I am happy to say that lunch was really nice today.

After lunch we visited the Cadiz Roman theatre – forum- ruins. These were built in the Ist century BC. These ruins were discovered in 1980 and are one of the largest Roman forum in the Iberian peninsula. It had a capacity of some 10.000 people at the time. These ruins are in extremely well conditions, and the archeological society together with the university and the state government have rehabilitated this area, as a way to educate people about how the Roman inhabitants of the time lived. They not only provided the visitors with written displays but also with a theatre were audio visual displays in a number of languages are continually shown.

Late in the afternoon we visited the castle of San Sebastián. This castle as mentioned in yesterday’s blog, sit on the other side of the cove in which the La Caleta beach is located. According to local information this castle was first constructed in the site of an ermita – chapel- which there in the 13th century. It used to sit on an island, of the mainland. And over the centuries, a number of bridges were constructed to link the small island to Cadiz or Gades as it was known at that time. Construction still continues today, and due to a number of barriers- some of which we crossed, to get closer to the castle- we were able to only reach the entry point, were not able to enter the castle itself.
The La Caleta beach was very popular today with beach goers, as the temperature was very pleasant and conducive to enjoy some time either in the ocean or just lying on the white sandy beach.

Today was also a day – for me- of re encounter with old things, as well as getting “rid”of other things. Let me explain. A few days ago i had left an IT items in a hotel in Oviedo, a city I visited some days ago. Once I realized that I had left that item behind, I called the hotel, and asked them if they could post that item to me to a hotel which I would be at in a fe days time. They agreed to do so. So yesterday I enquired at this hotel and was told early in the morning by the staff at the reception that he did not know anything about this item, but encouraged me to go to the central post office. So dutifully I went there to be told unless it had been sent certified they could not provide any assistance. At that stage I was resigned to the fact that I had lost that item. After lunch we returned to our hotel Bahia, and Pedro was giving an envelope which contained my misplaced item. This was my reencounter part of this story. The getting rid issue comes at the time our our journey to the San Sebastián castle. It was when we were there that, as I was taking my camera out of the day backpack, the camera’s WIFI dongle comes out of its container and drops into the sea, some 10-15 meters down from the pier on which we were standing. Bye bye, WIFI dongle. And so this is my “getting rid off” things part of the story. It took me some hours to come to terms with this freaky event. This was at some level more traumatic than how Pedro felt -yesterday-after the Spain – Portugal fútbol game. I came to terms with this latest loss, by thinking and reflecting on what the nun, which we saw in Pontevedra- at the museum of the apparitions- told us, some things do not happen by chance, but rather are meant to happen. Somehow I still don’t feel any better – in spite of the nun’s reflection- after “getting rid”of the camera’s wife dongle.

But, back into our journey, exploration of Cadiz. We were also planning to visit the17th-century watchtower, the Tavira Tower, which still commands a panoramic view of the city and the bay, however, we decided that the views were not going to be any better than the ones we saw from the Cathedral’s tower.

Returning to our hotel , we had a clarita – beer and lemon, before a light dinner. We also took that opportunity for a night stroll around the casco viejo – old part of town. Although it was after 10 pm the city was filled to capacity with people walking, having either dinner or enjoying a drink on the restaurants’ tables situated on the footpaths. We also saw a demonstration in front of the main councils building, in support of gays rights.

So this was our last night in Cadiz. This is a city that in spite of some its social challenges- high youth employment, and declining population, has vitality and a sense of purpose, as well as, a real commitment to sustainability and recognizing the value of its past history and architecture.

I say bye bye to Cadiz tomorrow morning, as we travel to the city of Cordoba, still in the Spanish Andalucian region.

Video taken tonight, during the evening stroll in the old part of Cadiz.