January 28, 29, 30, & 31 Spain
We are docked in Cadiz, Spain. This part of Spain has a long history and this city may be the oldest city in Europe. This Andalucia province has Paleolithic and Neolithic remains, Phoenician and Celtic early civilizations, and Roman, Moorish, Spanish, and even French history. The architecture represents this rebounding of cultures.
The first morning we explored some of the old city of Cadiz which is within walking distance of our ship. The café con leche and the Mercado Central were wonderful. We’ve never seen a seafood market with such variety! Les, Wendy, and I attended a Flamenco Night in Chiclana near Cadiz. First there were horses dancing with ladies in the bullring. It came time for the bull. Les leaned over to see the big bull come out, and out ran a small, fuzzy young bull! It was a bloodless training session and fun to see. After that we went inside to tapas (snacks), sherry (an area specialty), wine, and sangria. The flamenco dancers put all their energy and spirit into their performance.
Today, the 29th, Les and I went on a bus and walking tour of the “White Cities.” Arcos de la Frontera and Ronda are heritage sites where all the buildings are whitewashed. The streets are cobbled and narrow. The doors are massive with little doors built in which are people-sized. The towns are in a mountainous area with buildings built along the cliffs of river gorges.
Today we walked along the coast of Cadiz. In Parque del Genoves are trees of many varieties, fountains, and trees and bushes clipped in spirals and other quirky shapes. We saw garden cats, doves, and green parrots. On we went to the Old City where we negotiated the post office (take a number), the ATM machine, and purchased a queso bocadillo (cheese sandwich) on a freshly baked bun. Tonight we plan to go out about nine for tapas and wine.
We’ll be in this area tomorrow, but will board the ship for Casablanca about four. The ship departs at eight, but the line is long and if you don’t swipe your card before six, you get “dock time,” where you miss activities at the next port.
7 comments:
Ohhh! Que bonita descripción de Andalucía!
Ohhhh! That looks amazing! Makes me reeeaaallly want to go to Spain!
Hi Les and Judy, how wonderful to be able to keep up with all that you're doing. Looks and sounds fantastic. Have a wonderful time!
What an exciting adventure! Thanks for bringing us along. Love all the details and to hear what you're learning as you go. I would have loved to have seen Les's face at the bull fight.
Today is a snowy day- nice for the skiers. Seems more normal.
Judy and Les, Love your blog. Feel like we are experiencing it with you. glad you are having fun and learning a lot. Keep it up and we look forward to the next installment in Casablanca.
Les and Judy,
How fortunate can we be for having such good friends such as yourselves. Keep up the good words cause they are such a good read. We had made reservations to fly to Naknek for caribou but had to cancel due to weather. Will go later. Redoubt is rumbling, spring is calling and Trudy is getting excited about her garden. Fun to all.
T & T
L&J:
Thanks for the card from Cadiz. Ginny and I are thinking Spain, and will go back on the Camino from Leon in April.
You're missing nothing here.
Joe
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