Spain and Dubai Day 8. Cadiz Spain. 2 Oct 25

Did I mention that the sun doesn’t get up here until 8:20am (and sets at 8:08pm), so slow starts are almost compulsory, and we are on holiday.
When we checked in we noticed they asked for you to book a breakfast time, so we booked 8am for this morning. A great plan, sleep in, easy morning, no rush. Mmmmmm we woke at about 8:15, so we threw insole clothes and rushed down to breakfast. We should have taken our time, the breakfast are was 1/3 full at most, and the breakfast on offer wasn’t something you’d rush for!
This morning we had a guided tour of some of the more remarkable historic sites of Cadiz, and a walk around the historic streets, generally taking in the feel of this ancient city.
We eventually met our guide, Elizabeth, in the lobby of our hotel at 10:10am and set out to explore.
We walked over to the foreshore facing a small beach, la Caleta, flanked on the left by the 18th century Castillo de San Sebastián that sits on a rocky out crop and now features a lighthouse, and on the right by the 16th century Castillo de Santa Catalina, a star shape fortress that is now used for exhibitions. La Caleta, is a popular small beach that is usually protected from strong winds. Cadiz is normally very windy, hot winds come from the Sahara and cold winds from Atlantic, depending on the time of year. At times of very low tides it is possible to walk out to Castillo de San Sebastián.
The city is going to be bustling from tomorrow with crowds here to see the GP Sail boat racing. Its one of many events, such as Carnivale, Roman Week and Phonetician Week the the city and province help organise to promote the area and tourism. Tourism is the largest industry in Cadiz.
We walked from the beach through the old town. It was fascinating. We saw two more very big fig trees outside an old convent. The story goes that the figs were brought from Brazil by some nuns, and when the nuns died they were planted in remembrance of them, that was over 120 years ago.
Most building in the old town date back to date1700 and 1800’s, when the city was a very prosperous trading port. Many wealthy traders set up homes with watch towers through out the city. The towers were to watch for incoming ships. The merchant homes featured warehousing on the ground floor, lavish living quarters on the first floor and servant quarters under the roof on the 3rd floor. Later homes replaced the warehouses with summer living and the first floor became their winter living area.
Cadiz suffered its worst attack in 1596 by an Anglo-Dutch fleet led by the Earl of Essex. They captured, looted and burnt the city to the ground. The also destroyed the Spanish fleet anchored in the bay. The raid inflicted massive economic damage to Spain and is said to have had a significant contribution to the bankruptcy of Spain later that year.
We had a look through the seafood area of the city’s fresh market. All the seafood look very good and fresh. While we recognised most of the species, there were quiet a few that were new to us. We stopped and bought a cone of tiny prawns, a snack to try as we walked around. They had a very mild prawn flavour. Outside the market building was the “Gastronomy area”, a ring of small eateries around the market square, they all looked very tempting.
We then visited the “New Cathedral of Cadiz”, or Cathedral fe Santa Cruz sobre Las Aguas, was built between 1722 and 1838. The plaza it sits in also has the 1635 Baroque Church in it. The Cathedral is also known as The Cathedral of the Americas as it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. Due to the long construction time the original Baroque styled building it took on Rococo and Neoclassical styles. The ceiling of the Cathedral is crumbling and pieces are falling from it, so they have a protective net strung up inside the entire Cathedral to prevent anyone being injured. It takes away greatly from the building. An interesting local aspect to this Cathedral is that when it was originally used, only the rich parishioners could sit in a position where they could see everything that went on during a service, the poor people sat behind the chior and could only hear what was going on. Our guide sad that even today when people go to services there they say they are going to listen to the service, not see it.
The Choir has 41 seats in it each with carving of Bishop, the virgin Mary and an angel playing an instrument above it. The Cathedral has 15 Chapels, all of which are still inuse.
The Cathedral houses a pure silver tower structure used for Corpus Christi. It’s on wheels, and has a steering wheel and brakes. At 500kg of Pure silver I guess that’s required if you want to move it.
We went down into the Crypt of the Cathedral, it was really interesting. The main chamber acts as an echo chamber, with any sound made there echoing 15 times! The Crypt is still inactive use. We saw a mummified body of Santa Victoria who was beheaded fir not denying her faith. The even have a statement of providence to prove it’s her!
We then walked to the Roman Theatre of Cadiz, it was built in 1st century BC by Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger. It was discovered in 1980. The theatre is around 120m in dia, making the oldest and 2nd largest on the Iberian Peninsula, it capacity is estimated at over 10,000.
They have a very good pictorial sequence showing how the old Roman Theatre was gradually built over the top of over the millennia. The ruins have been left as that, they have not tried to recreate the theatre, but have left things as they were when they were uncovered. I thought it gave the site a real sense of time and it was left to your imagination as to how it may have looked.
We left there, said our goodbyes byes to Elizabeth and went a restaurant she suggested for lunch. We muddled our way through the menu, and then with the help of a server with limited English managed to order a feast. We had a plate of fried fish/seafood and some Tuna and rice baked in a paella pan. It was so much food, but we did our best. The fried plate had about 4 different species of whole small fish on it, calamari strips, and chunks of battered cubed fish. So yummy. The tuna was sat on top of rice cooked in a very rich tomato and vegetable sauce, and yes, just yummmmm.
We took the I guess way (the long meandering way) back to our hotel and both of us sighed a breath of relief a we relaxed. Another great day out.