HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!
It was still rather dark when the ship arrived to the port of Cadiz this morning. This city is believed to be the oldest one in Europe with 3000 years of history. Traces of Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Moors can be found in this unique port city. Even Christopher Columbus and other seafarers used this port to sail to the New Continent of America. The current population of Cadiz is about 140,000 inhabitants, and it is the Old City that we plan to explore today. It's an ancient Medieval town with all of the narrow streets, many small and large plazas, old fishing quarters, and flamenco cafes and bars.
What do the local eat and drink here? Sum it up to two things – fish and wine. Wide varieties of fish include dorados, turbot, plaice, and urtas (not sure what that is). They love the shellfish like prawns, crayfish, crabs, and razor clams. Home-made cheeses and cooked meats are sold city-wide. And we love their sweet cookies sold in most bakeries. As for the wines, there are many, but the popular ones are sherry and brandy. Arts and crafts include leather items, woven blankets, ponchos, wickerwork, and cane items. It will be interesting to see what is opened and what is not due to the fact it is Easter Sunday.
Naturally, there were tours today beginning with a ride to stunning Seville for $200 for 8 hours, and a walk through Cadiz with a flamenco dance for $100 for 3 hours. Ultimate Seville and hidden treasures was $280 for 8 hours. A transfer to Seville was $75 for 8 hours on your own. Flamenco and a Spanish meal was $150 for 2 hours, while a taste of Cadiz was $130 for 4 hours. Cadiz and Jerez with sherry was $70 for 3 ½ hours, and White Village and countryside was $80 for 5 hours. Tickets for the ho-ho bus were sold for $25 for 1 ½ hour tour. One of the best tours we have done twice was an Andalusian horse show, but it was not offered today as it was probably closed for the holiday.
The Zuiderdam was docked across the street from Old Town, but the Royal Caribbean Symphony and a Costa ship were docked, but much further away. We got lucky being so close. We left the ship around 11:30am for one heck of a long hike, but armed with yesterday's map and a smaller local map we got in the terminal. Crossing the street, we took a left and went right up the main entrance at Plaza S. Juan de Dios. Rounding the corner across from the Cathedral, it appeared that the festivities had already happened as far as the processions were concerned.
Now we had been led to think that very little would be opened in town today. Yes, the clothing and souvenirs stores were closed, but just about every café and restaurant was opened for business. It was a good day for the street vendors that were selling souvenirs, jewelry, and sport clothing right on the sidewalks. They had little competition. Making our way around the Cathedral, we made or way to the seawall that faced the Atlantic Ocean. The views up here were wonderful, and the foot traffic was far less than in the center of town.
This is where we always see many feral, but neutered cats, that live in the rocks below the seawall. They help keep the rodent population under control. There are even cat houses set up for them and people obviously feed them too. Continuing on, we noticed that many of the locals stroll up here, some even living in the apartment buildings across the street. A great place to walk dogs, we saw many of all sizes.
We could see the remains of a castle accessible by a very long road. The name of it was Castillo San Sebastián, and has been the site of many movies scenes…even a James Bond movie. A sandy beach begins from here with many sunbathers taking advantage of the warm sands. An old but closed swim club is still here called Balneario de la Palma, which must have been something in its heyday. This area is known as Playa de la Caleta, and today the tide was out exposing acres of mossy tidal pools. One side of this mushy-looking terrain were several small fishing boats well out of water. We also spotted many people fishing with nets and others appeared to be clamming.
A little further we found Castillo Santa Catalina, an old fortress that offers views and a museum these days. Restrooms happen to be here as well, which are about non-existent elsewhere.
One of the most pleasant walks is through Parque Genoves and Jardin Botanico. It is loaded with many imported trees, palms, and cacti from everywhere around the world as well as indigenous plants. There are monuments and fountains with tiled seating here and there. Rounding the end of this peninsula, we went through another garden with massive old ficus trees and more tiled benches and fountains. The checkerboard patios were nice, except for the droppings from too many pigeons and gulls.
Our destination was our favorite little pizzeria, and we knew we could find it with the help of the maps. As long as we could locate the Plaza de Mina, we knew the way. And locate it, we did, going inside to be seated. Expecting to get menus, they pointed to the icon on the table used by the guests with cell phones. None of the waiters spoke English well, but had we taken our time, we would have noticed a menu printed on the outside wall. We did manage to order two Peroni beers and one large Margherita pizza. With an honest-to-goodness wood-fired oven the pizza was ready within 10 minutes. And it was perfect. Crispy crust and lots of sauce and cheese. Not sure what the bill would be, we were pleasantly surprised to see it was 11 euro. That's as good as we had in Lanzarote, except today's pizza was normal size and we were not stuffed to the gills.
We followed Calle Rosario until we got to a bakery that was selling ice cream and baked goods. Spotting pre-wrapped cookies, we bought two packages of them for room snacks, if they last that long. They are not overly-sweet, more like a shortbread cookie with zest of orange and chocolate chips. So good. We ran into Heo and Greg on the way back near the big plaza. They had just left having lunch, but paid considerably more for ala carte tapas at a fancier dining venue. All in all, we were all happy with our choices.
We headed back to the ship and got there by 3pm. Honestly, we are still feeling the effects of losing two hours in one evening. Hard to fight that tired feeling, so it was nice to relax back in our comfortable room and veranda. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. There were only six of us tonight, as Susie and Woody had a busy afternoon in town, meeting up with one of their grandsons. Bet they turned in early for the evening.
The menu had cute little pictures on it for Easter, but nothing special for this occasion. However, on the table we had a "special of the night" note with the offering of savory ham, veggies, and mashed potatoes. According to Oscar, our head waiter, so many folks complained about the choices, that they added this entrée at the last minute, printing the special notice just in time for the 5pm diners. Both of us ordered it, and the ham was delicious. We added some applesauce on the side as well . Desserts were one panna cotta and rum raisin ice cream. Nik, our waiter, brought us some of the little Cadbury chocolate eggs, just like the packaged ones we got left on the bed this morning. The bigger present was putting the clocks back one hour tonight. That will put us on Lisbon time for one day, then we set them forward tomorrow for the last stop in Spain, A Coruna. Crazy, huh?
Bill & Mary Ann
