Cadiz, Espana - Our Last Port of Call

March 20th, we docked in Cadiz, Spain, which was our last port of call before the cruise ends in Lisbon.

Cadiz is the capital of the province of Cadiz in the Andalusia region of Spain. It is on the coast 126km from Seville, the capital of Andalucia.  Cadiz is Europe's oldest city.  Originating from 1100 and founded by the Phoenicians, although legend has it that Hercules himself founded Cadiz. The city sits on a fist shaped piece of land sticking into the sea.

I had booked a walking tour with a company called GuruWalks which was free and you just paid what you thought it was worth.  It began in front of the city hall and there were about 22 people on the tour.  Our guide, Anna, thankfully used a microphone or it would have been impossible to hear her.  She was very good.



  

From there we walked up a street that took us by the old city wall which was built by the Romans.  

From there, we walked up to the seafront and, from one place, you could see the influence of the Romans, Phoenicians, and Moors.  





Anna pointed out that some of the corners on buildings were protected by either the neck of cannons being stood on end or by melting them down to wrap around the corner.  The wrapping in second picture was, apparently, from a French cannon.  


The tour took us through the streets – I wouldn’t  have minded stopping in some of the shops – then through a square to a market.









Our next stop was at a street called Virgen de la Palma that had been hit by a tsunami after the earthquake in Lisbon in 1755.  

We then walked to another area along the seafront where the tour ended. 



From there, it was just a matter of getting a taxi back to the port.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomar (The City of the Templars), Elvas (not Elvis!), Back to Azeitao and Heading Home!

Image
Sunday evening, we arrived in Tomar around 5 pm but it took quite a while to figure out where our hotel was.  We'd put it in the SatNav but the address wasn't recognized.  Note to self: it's better to put in the name of a hotel in case it is located on a pedestrian street!  Once we'd found the  Casas Dos Oficios and checked in about one hour later, we were very pleased.  It is a four-star hotel in, I think, an old mansion. The rooms were almost luxurious and the hotel is in a good location; once, of course, you figured out where it is!      Tomar was the last Templar town to be commissioned for construction and is one of Portugal's historical jewels.  The town was especially important in the 15th century when it was a center of Portuguese overseas expansion under Henry the Navigator, the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, successor organization to the Knights Templar in Portugal. The town, with a population of about 20,000 is a World Herita...
Read more

More of Las Palmas

Image
Monday, I did a walking tour called The History of Las Palmas through Get Your Guide.  The tour had been recommended to me by friends and it did not disappoint.  Luis, the guide, was super - passionate about the islands history but not so serious that he didn't make it interesting.   Like most other places, Las Palmas has a complicated history, particularly with its link to Spain’s history.  For example, there was a large influx of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition who converted to Catholicism and relocated to the island to avoid persecution.  Not all managed to escape that, however.  Christopher Columbus also spent time here repairing one of his boats, the Pinta, before he sailed in 1492.  It was also a stop on his subsequent voyages.   We began in Plaza San Antonio Abad (apparently abad means abbot ) and the tour was mainly in the neighbourhood called Vegueta.  The area around the square was formerly a little military camp foun...
Read more

Starting in Gran Canaria

Image
On March 7th, I flew from Victoria via Vancouver and overnight Frankfurt then on to Gran Canaria where I am staying in Las Palmas for a couple of days.  It was a very long journey but, thankfully, without any big glitches.  One, which was a bit of a drama, was when I was going through security at Frankfurt airport after passing through Passport Control.  Recently, I have started bringing a Tens Unit with me as using it can help my back pain.  I have travelled with it before without a problem as, having done the research, I know that it is okay either to pack it in your checked luggage or put it in your carry on.  It was no problem last year.  Clearly the staff at security in FRA had no idea what it was when my bag was scanned.  The next thing I knew, I was taken aside because it had tested positive as a bomb or an explosive.  I have to say the German Politzei men were ever so nice once I produced my passport and I'd convinced them I was no terrori...
Read more