Saturday, April 20, 2019
We’re in the Atlantic Ocean now. This is our last port in Spain.
Where am I?
What did I see, first thing this morning?
It’s always fun to wake up in the morning and step outside to see what was not there the night before. This morning, the dramatically lit cathedral in Cadíz greets me.
What’s been happening?
I’ve booked a tour for today and that tour comes in two parts. The first part is a brief drive around Cadíz to see some of the highlights of the city, and the second part is a visit to a little beach town called Conil de la Frontera.
The city of Cadíz is relatively small. It was built on the end of a small peninsula and walled in (more on that in a couple of paragraphs.) Therefore, seeing the “sights of Cadíz” does not take much time.
Driving around Cadíz, my impression is that this is an old city where many parts look similar to colonial-style cities in Mexico. Cadíz seems to be a clean place, even in the downtown area and around the port where other cities show a dirtier side.
Narrow streets 
Remnants of the old city walls 
The beautiful cathedral
Leaving Cadíz, we pass through the ancient walls that once contained the city. Cadíz is built on a peninsula. Centuries ago, it was protected by fortresses from attacks by sea, and owing to its position on a peninsula, there was only one access to the city by land. It was protected by massive stone walls and gates that could be closed to protect the city.
Although they are no longer gated (having been converted to portals long ago), the stone walls still stand and our bus passes through them as we leave the city and venture out into the world beyond.
We left the city through the “gates” and headed south to see the sights of the countryside. The map here shows where we visited. We headed south out of Cadíz on the main highway and down to the town of Barbate, then up the coastal road, through Conil de la Frontera, and then back to Cadíz.
On our way to the beach, our guide tells us about the industries that fuel the economy of the greater Cadíz area. One of those industries is supplying prized bulls for the various bullfighting events around Spain. Bulls from the ranch pictured here (which was near Barbate) are also sent to Pamplona for the famous annual “Running of the Bulls.” As it turns out there is a local Running of the Bulls event near Cadíz, too, but it is clearly not as well known globally. Want to start a Running of the Bulls in your town? Bulls from this ranch, which are prized for their beauty, strength, and endurance, start at about US$6,000 each. The best ones go for twice that amount.
Following our visit to the ranch lands, our tour emerged along the coast and one of our first stops was at Cape Trafalgar. The photo below is of the Cape Trafalgar Lighthouse.
Cape Trafalgar was the place of a fierce battle between the English and the French/Spanish in 1805. During the Battle of Trafalgar, the British Royal Navy, commanded by Horatio, Lord Nelson very soundly defeated the combined French and Spanish navies of Napoleon. Though he was victorious, Lord Nelson lost his life here.
For us, this was simply a beautiful stop on a lovely beach. There was absolutely no indication that a violent battle had ever occurred.
Here are some other photos of this lovely location. Oh, and, BTW that hard-to-see mountain way in the background of the last photo is Africa!
Just down the road from Cape Trafalgar is the little town of Conil de la Frontera. If you paid any attention at all to the map above you may have noticed that many towns in this area have “de la Frontera” as part of their name. “de la Frontera” is Spanish and means “of the border.” However, it should be plainly clear that there are no borders anywhere near here.
Centuries ago, much of the southern part of Spain was under the control of the Moors. As the Spanish fought to drive out the Moors the border between the two civilizations was slowly moving to the south. As a town was “liberated” (a very Spanish point of view) it became the new edge of the Spanish realm and therefor was now “on the border.” After the Moors were driven completely out of the Iberian Peninsula, many of these towns retained their “de la Fontera” moniker, and so we see it today.
So back to Conil de la Frontera.
Conil is a very cute little beach town built on a hill south of Cadíz and north of Cape Trafalgar. It is a resort town with a nice white sand beach, cozy and narrow streets (with very little automobile traffic), restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops.
The beach area, all by itself, has a few attractions of its own, like an amusement park and a couple of restaurant/bars.
Just flew in for a well-earned vacation 
The amusement park 
Art as big as life. Bigger, even! 
Kiss the fish! Also, is this a word for really bad tequila?
I walked around in town for about an hour just soaking in the experience.
Desafortunatamente (that’s Spanish for unfortunately), our tour could only stay in Conil for about an hour. I could have stayed for a month! Anyway, it was back to the bus for the ride “home.” But that doesn’t mean that my sightseeing was over for the day. Not at all!
After we returned to the ship I still had a couple of hours before we were scheduled to depart, so I visited the central plaza which was just a short walk from where the ship was parked.
The plaza was a large, outdoor area that contained within its boundaries centers for religion, politics, and commerce. Package all of that up and then add restaurants and shops, pepper the place with stately palm trees, and a few thousand people and, abracadabra, you have a very lively place to hang out.
And, I did.
Mmmmmm. Local beer.
All in all, it was a very fun, exciting, and educational day! After enjoying a local beer in the plaza, I made the short walk back to the ship so as to not become an accidental citizen of Cadíz.
So, anything else?
I just knew you would ask!
Yes, there was one more little piece of excitement for us, even after the gangplank had been removed.
Today is the day before Easter and this is a very Catholic country. As part of a loooooong standing tradition, there is an Easter procession held today. In this procession, many members of the local Ku Klux Klan parade around in their hoods.
No, that’s a lie.
There is a procession, and there are people parading around in their hoods (known as capriotes), but this has nothing to do with the Klan. The hooded people in the procession are very religious people who express their devotion to this holy day by wearing their special and traditional garb.
The procession carries a float containing religious icons around the plaza area and, for a brief time, in view of the port area where we are parked. These are the best photos I could take since I was aboard ship already and the gangplank was gone. However, if you can imagine a brass band playing music as the procession slowly, um, proceeded then you might have the full experience in your mind as completely as it was in mine.
And so, it was the end of the day in Cadíz, but not the end of my curiosity. I would love to return to Cadíz, visit Seville, and especially spend some time in Madrid. Hey “next time”! Please come soon!
So, what’s coming up?
There is no restful day at sea tomorrow. Next stop, Lisbon, Portugal!
G’night!
