A Walk in Cadiz

Hello! I am excited to finally share a little bit more of my corner of Spain with you. The first trip we took outside of our new town of El Puerto de Santa Maria was an afternoon in Cadiz. I am looking forward to getting to know this city much better– it’s the largest in our area, and one we’ll be going back to again and again. I’ll just share some pictures today of what we saw, and the little bits of information I’ve learned so far.
We see Cadiz just about every day from our beaches in El Puerto, and there’s a ferry that goes between our ports, but it’s about a 25 minute drive by car. When we came out of the underground parking lot, we found ourselves in this square. It was Andalucia Day, and the plaza was packed with people and there was a huge choir singing some anthems on a raised stage. Fun!
Cadiz is such a fascinating and beautiful city! You can see the sea from most places, as it’s situated on a narrow piece of land on the sea. I love that.This is La Caleta Beach– it’s so pretty and looks so timeless to me. It’s in between two totally different castles–San Sebastián and Santa Catalina.San Sebastian is an ancient fortress (construction began in 1706), set further out. It’s now also a lighthouse. We didn’t walk out to it, but did see a steady stream of visitors heading out there. We’ll have to do it sometime soon!The building below really intrigued me… This little bit is just one pavilion of the much larger Balneario de Nuestra Señora de la Palma y del Real. It was a spa built in the 1920s! So light and airy. Now the building houses the offices of the Underwater Andalusia Archaeology Center.  Near this spot, we found a really good restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed some excellent, fresh grilled fish. If you visit, I can definitely recommend stopping by Quilla.

After lunch, we wandered back through the old town. I love all of the narrow streets, with shops on the bottom floor and people homes in the higher stories. Geraniums spilling over the window boxes, laundry hung out the windows to dry, and the surprising music of many birds in cages chatting with each other. We stopped for ice cream and then for espressos, and enjoyed the lovely plazas and beautiful architecture.This beautiful building is the Cadiz Cathedral. When I uploaded my photos to my computer, I realized that I had taken way too many pictures of it, from various angles in different parts of the city. It’s just so beautiful and prominent.
There was so much more to see, but after walking in the sun for a few hours, having a wine with our lunch, and seeing everyone else disperse to their homes for siesta, we followed suit.We can’t wait to go back again for another dose of sunshine, sea, beautiful architecture and and relaxed Spanish fun.

Thanks for coming with us as we explore our new surroundings!