cádiz 2012

Six days in Cádiz, Spain. Many of the students traveled not only in the Andalucía region, the southern area of Spain, but to the cities of Barcelona and Madrid. It’s hard even now to think why I did not do a lot of traveling in Spain, except that my brain needed a break from planning. We did look into a trip to Granada, but when we got online to reserve tickets for the Alhambra, they were booked for the next week. I found out only afterwards that the hotels often have tickets and you can get them that way rather than taking the chance of standing in a long line at opening, hoping to be let in.

In any case, we didn’t go to Granada or Córdoba or Sevilla, all the spots I’d researched prior to the voyage. I didn’t see a bull fight. I didn’t eat paella. I don’t, however, want to make this a blog about what I didn’t do, because apparently, what I needed to do most was regain my energy, mostly mental, after more than a month of almost non-stop journeying.

To do this, apparently, required standing on my hands and seeing things through a sunshine’s point of view.

So, what else did I do in Cádiz anyway? I walked. Naturally. That is the one thing I love to do wherever I am, in any sort of weather. It rained quite heavily some days, but the weather fluctuated frequently. Almost as soon as I’d put my umbrella up, I’d take it back down again.

The first day I spent in the Old Town, which was the closest part of the city to where we had docked. One of my first stops was the Catedral de Santa Cruz de Cádiz, a Roman Catholic church that was built over a period of 116 years, on the site of an older cathedral that burned down in 1596. These kinds of numbers remind me just how young the republic of the United States really is. Cádiz is actually thought to be the oldest continually inhabited city in Europe. It is the home port for the Spanish Navy, and the port from which Christopher Columbus sailed on both his second and fourth voyages to the Americas.

The Torre de Poniente, the westernmost tower of the cathedral, allows spectacular 360-degree views of the city. We walked the inclines and steps around and around to the top, from which we could even see our ship, docked miles away. The people below looked tiny.

Because we’d arrived on a Sunday, they were holding mass, which we watched from the rear of the church. Most of the businesses were closed, but the restaurants were busy and there was a long line in front of the churro stands. The churros come out of the frier in the shape of a wheel, are sliced with scissors into strips, then weighed and wrapped in a paper cone. At many places, they are also served with chocolate. They also have churros gordos, which are essentially fat churros, more like small blobs of fried dough.

Sunday in Cádiz felt like a day for family, relaxed socializing, and maybe just time to read a newspaper over a cup of coffee. Still, there were places where you wouldn’t know there was another person out beside you.

Not the case at the beach. The water was ideal and the words of the day were seagulls, sandcastles, sun-brellas, and sailboats.

The second day in this port seemed even better than the first. We were able to join a field trip that was hiking in Sierra de Grazalema, one of the first national parks in Andalucía. The park, encompassing more than 127,000 acres, has over 1,300 plant species and includes fourteen towns in two different provinces. Many of these are known as White Towns, so named because all the buildings are painted green...no, just kidding. They’re all painted white, with red or brown tiled roofs. No one is sure the exact reasons for this, but it may have to do with the antibacterial nature of whitewashing. Our guide told us that at one time, whitewash was all these towns could afford.

There are incredible pinsipo--Spanish fir--trees throughout the park. The Spanish fir is native only to this area of Europe and is a species that survived the Ice Age. Think about that, The Ice Age. Very impressive. We also saw vultures, hmmm, and heard a stag calling out, apparently looking for a mate. Hope he wasn’t counting on us to deliver.

I won’t go through all the days, some of which were rainy, but I had an enjoyable time just exploring the city, including the newer part, which was built only about fifty years ago. As mentioned, the city of Cádiz--by the way, the accent in Cádiz is on the first syllable, and the accent in Andalucía is on the last--is divided into the Old Town, which lies to the west, and the New Town, which lies further east. These sections are separated by large stone arches, Puertas de Tierra, which are remnants of walls built several hundred years ago. At some point, the city actually used to close the gate at night so no one could pass from one side to the other. These are views taken from the New Town. You can see the Catedral with its two towers in the second photo below.

I have to leave room to talk about flamenco. Its origins are with the Romani people, otherwise known as Gypsies, a great number of whom live in the Andalucía region of Spain. Flamenco includes cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance), and palmas (hand claps). On our last night in Cádiz, nearly forty of us walked to El Quini, a local restaurant, where Lisa Slavid, our Dean of Student Life, had arranged with the owners and a group of four or five mostly young men to perform flamenco for us.

Flamenco is also performed in formal settings for large crowds, but I really enjoyed being a part of the local culture and being able to sit so close to the action. We could hear people in the street walking by, often shouting olé, which is a way to encourage the musicians. There were no professional dancers at this family-owned establishment, but what we had instead were two enthusiastic waitresses, possibly a mother and daughter, who took to the stage at one point with some moves that had us all cheering. I wish I had some photos, but I do have some video. I’ll include a very short clip here of the musicians only and you can let me know if it uploaded correctly.

In addition, I did take some photos of the night sky on the walk over. Because of the earlier rain, the sky was beautiful as we left the ship, but by the time we reached the Catedral, it had turned magical. The last photo is how the sky looked the next morning; needless to say, a good day for...

...the Museo de Cádiz (in the corner of the Plaza de Mina, below), where we saw not only fine art and Roman artifacts but a whimsical--yes, the word fits--collections of marionettes.

Earlier that day, we’d seen Pinocchio, so it seemed apt. I know, I know...I’m not sure who wants to be a real boy more either.

This is not to take away from the formal art we saw that day, but earlier, I had the opportunity just to sit under and awning and look up at the sky. This really was a great way to see the city. Yes, the clouds really did roll by this way.

At the end of the day, before heading back to the ship, we stopped for a coffee and found a couple men from the crew also taking advantage of the free WiFi. The one pictured with me is Ismael, whom I mentioned in a much earlier blog. He is one of my favorite people on the ship, and I’ll be sad when he leaves in South Africa, though happy for him because he will see his family in the Philippines after a very long tour at sea. With some help from my friend, Millie, back home, I’m learning a bit of Tagalong, so even though we’re not stopping in any country on this voyage that uses it as a native language, I’ve managed to pick up some basic words such as salamat, which means thank-you. I’m so grateful to Ismael, as well as Darwin, Dante, Perry, Ramón, Milton, Ronald, and all the other people who make every single meal time an opportunity to laugh and smile. This crew is truly incomparable.

With everyone back onboard, we took the largest group photo in the history of Cádiz. There were more than 500 of us on four decks. We haven’t seen the photo yet, but I wore this yellow striped shirt and my hat and was on the top deck so maybe you’ll actually be able to pick me out. We’ll see. My outfit, however, didn’t compare to Joe, the partner of one of the doctors onboard. You can’t see it well in the photo, but his eye patch? Faux rhinestones. How could I compete with that?!

The sky under which we left Cádiz was nothing less than spectacular as well. You may be thinking, enough with the clouds already, but once again, you’re only seeing a bite-sized sample of the pie.

And wait, because there will be many more clouds, incredible ones, when we get to Tenerife. See you in the Canary Islands!