Cadiz

We arrived in Cadiz, Spain on Sunday and immediately got on a bus for Sevilla without seeing anything of it (except from the bus windows as we left town).  After Sunday in Sevilla, we spent Monday and Tuesday in Cordoba, arriving back to Cadiz, late Tuesday afternoon.  The last three days have been spent exploring Cadiz.  All of these places are in southern Spain in the region referred to as Andalusia, in the red in the first map.   As you can see, also, Cadiz is northwest of the straits of Gibralter (indeed there were two Semester at Sea trips, one a field lab for a course, to the straits).  

          

According to Wikipedia, Cadiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Iberian Peninsula and possibly all southwestern Europe, having been founded by the Phoenicians as a port in about 1000 BC.    It has a population of about 135,000 and sits on a narrow slice of land surrounded on by the sea.  "It is characterised by the antiquity of its various quarters (barrios …  which present a marked contrast to the newer areas of town. While the Old City's street plan consists of narrow winding alleys connecting large plazas, newer areas of Cadiz typically have wide avenues and more modern buildings. In addition, the city is dotted with numerous parks where exotic plants flourish, including giant trees supposedly brought to Spain by Columbus from the New World. 

After a late breakfast on Wednesday, we went off to explore Cadiz. There are four walking tours of city, each marked clearly on the streets in four different colors, today we did the purple called "Shippers to the Indies."  (We might have done another one, but it was such a dreary day.)

The tour stops are mostly churches and plazas.  We went into the first church – Our Lady of El Rosario and St Domingo – the church interior was so much brighter than most we have seen, the ceiling was snow white, they had more silver than gold.  It appeared to have had some renovations recently. 

  

We took a detour to the city market; it was the best we have seen.  Well laid out with stalls named for the provider – lots of fish – Barry got some great shots of those, good meat shops as well.  A great stall with olives – some fresh from the tree we were urged to taste – do not have the taste for them yet.  There was one with a raw almond stuffed in it – Barry's favorite and I like the marinated ones best.  We got a small bag for snacking on. 

   

 We saw this unusual fruit, a cherimoya, and the shopkeepers told us it was delicious. We finally bought one our last day here.  They cut it open and we ate it with a plastic spoon we brought from the ship.   Jayne wasn't too crazy about it, but Barry really liked it.  It was sweet with a taste somewhat that reminded him of both coconut and pineapple.

Our next stop was the Tower of Tavira.  It was used during the 18^th century and in 1778 was named the official watchtower for the city, being the highest at that time.    The towers were used to watch for ships approaching the port laden with merchandise from around the world.   The draw to the tower today is on the fourth floor where there is a camera obscura.   The camera projects a brilliant moving image of the surroundings at that very moment.  The optical principle is quite simple and only needs a completely darkened room with a white concave horizontal screen, and a hole through which the outside light enters, with a mirror and magnifying lenses.  The result is seeing a moving photograph of the panoramic views of the city of Cadiz. 

Barry went to the top of the tower and took a few pictures.

      

The rain was picking up so we headed for a quick lunch and back to the ship to rest and read.   We'll report on our last days in Cadiz tomorrow.