Our trip to Cádiz almost didn't happen. On Monday, I came down with bronchitis and couldn't get out of the bed. I was able to see the doctor mid week and got enough medicine and rest before the trip to be able to make the drive. A former coworker of Izzy's, Elijah, came with us. We pulled out of Madrid on Friday morning for the six hour drive down to Cádiz, the edge of Spain. The city itself, is actually on a tiny peninsula that juts out into the sea so its even further than the edge of Spain.
We arrived to Cádiz just in time to fill the gas tank. Elijah and I are the kind of people who like to see how far a car can go on a tank of gas. Izzy was quite nervous the last few miles but we finally found a gas station and filled up. Threat of angry wife pushing car averted. We stayed about 10 km outside of Cádiz in Puerto de Santa María. The city itself was busy and alive with activity for the following weekends celebration of Carnaval, the Spanish version of Mardi Gras. The city has a wealth of tradition and is considered to be the oldest city in Western Europe to still be standing. The city was founded by Phoenicians in the 12th century BC. The Greeks attribute the city's history to the tenth labor of Hercules. Since then, the city has been host to the Carthage empire of Hannibal, the Romans, the Moors, and the Spanish.
We drove on to Cádiz to have a look around. The first part of the city is quite the beach spot. It is full of apartments and shops that scream beach destination. We drove on past all of this to the old historic part of the city. The entrance to the old part of the city has a big gate from the ancient city. It was decorated with lights and other Carnaval stuff. We parked and headed to the shoreline and walked along that. One of the big attractions in Cádiz is the Roman Theater. It is said to be second largest in the world after the one in Pompeii. It was built in the 1st century BC by Lucius Cornelius Balbus. The theater was discovered in 1980 when a warehouse fire destroyed the building sitting on top of it. During the clean up process, some people noticed that the building appeared to be covering some medieval foundations. It was discovered that the medieval foundations covered up the theater.
We took a break to have a drink and snack in front of the Cathedral. The Cathedral is host to the diocese of Cádiz. The Cathedral itself is quite impressive and the inside is even more so. We only took a small peak at it because they wanted money to walk around it. If the largest Cathedral in Germany can not charge to walk around, then they shouldn't either. While we were having a drink, we watched some unseemly people annoy a table of people trying to enjoy a quiet drink. We avoided eye contact at all costs in hopes that the crazy woman wouldn't want to come annoy the hell out of us.
The city at sunset is beautiful. You can feel like you are at the edge of the world. We walked through Él Pópulo district of the city. There were people walking around in costumes and practicing for the coming Carnaval. Others were sitting around tables in the streets sipping beer and wine and enjoying the last bits of a Friday afternoon. When night fell, we continued to wander the streets and sat on a bench for a while outside the city hall to people watch and jabber about the kids at our schools.
Back in Puerto de Santa María, we went to a restaurant that was recommended by some friends. It was right around the corner from our hotel. We ordered fried shrimp, some potatoes, steak, and a sampler of fried seafood. We were not to be disappointed as the food was all delicious. It's hard to have bad seafood when you live right next to the water. We learned something new about Spanish customs with shrimp. They fry the entire shrimp and leave the shell on the body. The frying makes the shell soften and they eat the shrimp by tearing off the head and eating the meat with the shell on. To each his own. I continued to peel the shrimp and eat them without the shells. Overall, our trip to Cádiz was fun and the next morning, we headed east to Málaga.
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