The Spanish coastline stretching from the Portuguese border to Gibraltar is known
as the Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light). Cádiz is the capital of the province and
is the oldest inhabited town in the western world with 3,000 years of history.
It's position is one of the largest ports on the Atlantic coast of Spain, also a
naval base and a major shipyard, as well as the port of shipment for the brandy
and sherry from Jerez de la Frontera, and also olives and olive oil from Seville.
We liked it here. After taking the usual Hop On Hop Off bus around the town
which has 140,000 inhabitants, and the beachfront area, we spent the remainder
of our time on foot enjoying what was a cool blustery but mostly sunny day with
no rain for a change.
Although the historic buildings such as the Baroque style cathedral which
has undergone recent much-needed restoration, the Renaissance style
Church of Santa Cruz, and the Neo-Classical Museum of Cádiz were attractive,
we headed to the seafront, enjoying a stroll through the parks and promenades
where the combination of white houses and blue sea gave an impression of crisp,
pristine freshness.
We loved the small shopping streets many leading to open plazas and a market.
This was a great find for me - a tiny, narrow, tucked away Merceria which translates
as haberdasher's, draper's or notions shop. It was very old fashioned, with high ceilings
and lined with wooden shelves displaying yarns, ribbons, knitting patterns, embroidery
items etc. It was also crowded with customers, locals who obviously are keeping alive
sewing and knitting traditions - I loved that.
There were Christmas decorations in many of the streets, some quite
lovely, but this was my favorite in the window of the Merceria -
a lovely Nativity scene tucked between the yarns and notions.
As in most of Spain, tapas bars and restaurants were common.
This sign made me realize there are never enough vegetarian tapas - although
this one does have one, Pisto!
We found a nice coffee bar and stopped for a warming drink - then walked back
to the ship for dinner.
Our last port of call in Spain was La Coruña - more on that interesting town later,
plus I still need to post more on the Lisbon, Portugal stop. Slowly but surely
I'll get around to it - life has been hectic since we returned home!
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