Cádiz, Spain

We've been home from Spain for 3-1/2 weeks  now (it seems much longer because July has been such a busy month with everyone's birthdays, etc) but I never finished writing about our adventures so here is a continuation.  I did write about Paris on our anniversary here which is where we ended our trip.  Of course, we definitely want to go back and since we've been home, we keep talking about plans for future visits.  It's hard to get it out of your system.  So, as you can see, it's been 3-1/2 weeks and I'm still thinking of things to write.  The above photo was taken in Cádiz, Spain which is the largest city near where Nick lives in El Puerto de Santa Maria.  I mentioned it before because Bruce and I went shopping at the mall there.  It is a super old city, founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC and where Christopher Columbus sailed out of for two of his journeys.  It is considered the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities. Below, we are standing in one of the many plazas called Plaza de San Juan de Dios with the Old Town Hall in the background. 

In this plaza stands a bronze statue of Segismundo Moret who is considered the "favourite son of Cadiz". He was Prime Minister of Spain on three occasions, a well-liked politician who played a key role in the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico in 1870.

                       

Here is another plaza with a merry-go-round.  We saw merry-go-rounds in other towns, as well; very popular.   I like how there were stairs on this merry-go-round with another level and it looks so ancient, as does so much here.



Nick gave us a quick tour of Old Town in Cádiz so we walked past the Cathedral of Cádiz which is actually sort of new cathedral built from 1722 because the original one burned down.  



We also walked through the botanical gardens which was quite refreshing and lovely.  Some of the plants were very ancient, as well.  It has been around since the end of the eighteenth century with many renovations, of course. 

Beyond the gardens you reach the beach, overlooked by two old fortresses.

You can see the Moorish-style architecture here.  The Moors left their influence many places in Spain like in the hill town of Vejer that I wrote about here. 

 I really enjoyed watching the young boys playing soccer on the beach; not your typical boys you’d see on an American beach. These boys were GOOD!  I had to wave Nick and Bruce over to watch these kids.  I’d never seen little boys play soccer like this, using their whole bodies and such quick feet, falling down and not caring.  Of course, it was sand but still.  They were fun to watch. 

You learn real fast in Spain that soccer is a big sport here because you see men and boys wearing soccer team jerseys just walking down the street like normal clothes.  In America, you only see soccer jerseys when people are going to a soccer game.  We thought that was entertaining, too.  

We enjoyed walking along the fortress and looking at boat traffic.  Cádiz was first established as a port town before anything else and today it is a busy port city.  There are also lots of cruise ships that make a stop here. 

We continued our tour through Old Town until we eventually ended at a restaurant where Nick had made reservations.  After wandering through a tangle of alleyways he finally spotted the restaurant and it turned out to be one of our best meals yet. 

We were probably at this restaurant at least three hours.  We all agreed that service was slow but that is typical in Spain since everyone is so laid-back (they probably haven't completely waken up from their siestas!)  Nick said we had been lucky that we really hadn't experienced it until this place.  But the food made up for it.  This was the second salad we'd had during our visit where the salad dressing was squeezed out of an aerosol container to make a design on your plate.  So cute.  And I loved the sardines on our salad.  Cádiz knows how to utilize fish in their dishes.  Of course they would being such a busy port city and a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on all sides

Besides fish, we ate a lot of gazpacho of this trip, too.   I normally don't care for cold tomato soup which is what gazpacho is, but it's very different in Spain and we all loved it.  The key to it is to have lots of seasonings in it which good quality gazpacho has and we had many good quality ones during our visit. And, of course, since this is Cádiz, they topped their's with a tasty sardine. 

One of my favorite meals was when we went south to Gibraltar during the heat wave that I wrote about here and we ate on the beach with that ever present Rock of Gibraltar looming over us the whole time. 

We watched our dinner cook on a spigot over a fire on the beach and it was the best fish I've ever had. 

The skin was crisp and salty, it was like eating potato chips.  In many other countries, you get the WHOLE fish.  We were use to this from visiting Italy in 2016 and from our multiple trips to Japan.  To many Americans, it can be gross but we like it and we're use to it. 

This is what I could have eaten every night the rest of our trip.  So, when we were in Cádiz, guess what they had on the menu?  The crispy fish!  And I ordered it. 

It probably wouldn't have filled me up just this alone but we had a few other amazing courses of the salad and gazpacho so this just really hit the spot and I loved it.  For dessert we had some citrus gelato. 

                 

I also had some rice pudding which I don't see on menus very often but we ate rice pudding a lot growing up and I've always loved it.  I didn't take a photo but it was the most delicious rice pudding I've ever had.  The Spanish really know how to make their puddings, like flan, which originated here.  After dinner, we once again proceeded to walk through all the alleyways to make our way back to the parking garage. 

We loved visiting Cádiz and we definitely want to return to explore more nooks and crannies of this very distinct, historical, laid-back, beautiful, ancient city in Spain.