Cadiz
Saturday was for walking a sight seeing in Cadiz. Although technically a peninsula, it is served by road traffic with only one small bridge. Most tourists arrive by boat. We took the the El Vaporcito (the little steamship) from Puerto de Santa Maria to Cadiz. The trip was about 45 minutes and cost less than $5 roundtrip. The funniest thing on the boat was the vending machine. It sold Baccardi. Just what we needed at 10 o'clock in the morning. The boat ride provided a spectacular view looking back to Puerto de Santa Maria and Puerto Sherry.










Cadiz gardens

There were also a ton of small fishing boats out in the ocean. Once we got into the port at Cadiz, El Vaporcito was dwarfed by the commercial barges, freighters and criuse ships.

Once off the ship, you are immediately accosted by tour bus operators and taxi drivers. We took a quick right when everyone else went left and immediately were lost. Luckily, the island (peninsula really) is small so we just kept the ocean to our right. Although Spain's plazas almost rival Italy's (almost), we found their parks lacking. Other than Parc Guell, the park's were dusty with little landscaping and upkeep. Cadiz is the exception. The trees are beautifully kept up (there are 2 huge rubber trees in Cadiz) and there is an amazing botanical garden.

From there we stumbled upon a local wedding. We never saw the bride, but the women were all dressed up. Maybe it was just the day, but the women all looked rather dour and the men happy: hmm... Anyway, as we walked around Cadiz, it was funny to see people going to the wedding waiting waiting at bus stops. You'd never see people so dressed up on a bus in the US.

Our friends Steffi and Luigi told us that is we went to Cadiz, we had to visit a gelato shop there. Gelato in Cadiz? Everyone knows that only the Italians can make gelato. Well, two Italian ex-pats settled in Cadiz about a year and half ago and took over a delapidated store front and now serve the best gelato this side of Florence.

Try the pistachio

Leaving the gelato shop we continued our walk around Cadiz and found what Karen called the "El Cid Fort." We had just seen the Charleston Heston and Sofia Loren 1961 epic movie "El Cid" on DVD and I have to admit the Santa Cantilina Castle on Cadiz does bear a striking resemblence to the castle in the movie. The real castle from the movie is in Peniscola on the Costa del Azahar. Santa Cantilina Castle was built after the late 16th century sacking of the city.

The "El Cid Fort." Note the boats stuck in the mud at low tide.

Today, it is next to the city's best beach and serves as a marina for the still vibrant fishing industry.

Fisherman works on this boat

The finest views of Cadiz are certainly had at the top of the tower in the cathedral. There is narration (on Bose speakers, no less) in several languages from the top of the tower. You can see for several miles in all directions (better to spot the invading hoardes). The cathedral actually ran short of funding and was not completed until several decades after its initial construction. this account for it combination of Gothic and Baroque archtechture.

After our quick ferry ride on the Little Steamship back to Puerto de Santa Maria, we went back to our hotel.

The BIG GAME of Barcelona vs. Madrid started at 10pm local time (only in Spain does a sporting event BEGIN at 10pm). We watched the first half hour in our hotel and saw the great Ronaldinho score Barcelona's only goal on a penalty kick in a 1-1 tie. We were beat from a long day, but I convinced Karen to go out to Puerto de Santa Maria that night. She wanted to see flaminco the whole trip and southern Spain is renowned for its flaminco. However, you can be steered to tourist rip offs for flaminco if you are not careful. So we went to a local place for our flaminco. It was held in what seemed like the combinaltion between a church and a community center. People of all ages were in the audience and each performer sang one or two songs. I think it was a showcase for local talent because the skill level varied wildly from the amatuerish to the polished and professional. The last singer we saw was amazing. She had a voice like an opera singer and commanded the stage like Evita. The song must have been a traditional song because everyone (except us) knew the words and as she took each chorus to its cresendo the crowd roared "Ole!"

Emboldened by the crowd, I decided to try and order a Tinto from the bartender. In addition to being a drink with wine and soda, tinto also means red wine. Not know how to differentiate I received red wine from the bartender, of course. Karen saved the day by ordering a 7Up and we made our own Tinto at our table.