As promised, my back-to-back update! On Friday, I took the train down to Cádiz from Madrid to visit Victoria! She’s living across the bay in Rota, Spain, on her first tour in the Navy. My train arrived midday, and she took the ferry across from Rota to meet me. We dropped our stuff at our Airbnb, an apartment in an old villa with a beautiful rooftop (and pool!). Cádiz is a gorgeous small city packed with history and interesting sights to see. We spent much of the day on Friday exploring on foot. By around 7pm, we headed over to the main plaza for the annual Christmas lighting ceremony. It began with a band and an amazing Flamenco dancer on a large stage in front of the local government building. In the first performance, they turned on most of the lights in the square. Then there were a few minutes when everyone shuffled around before the second performance with a cellist on a balcony and a whole chorus. The building lights flashed, and then flame throwers around the gutters started shooting out fire. It was AWESOME! After the show, we walked around a bit more and settled at a small bar for drinks and tapas to end the night.
On Saturday, we had a slower start to the morning with breakfast in the square by the Cathedral. We spent the afternoon walking along the beach before heading to one of the fortresses on the edge of the ocean. According to a sign on the wall, it was a military prison during the Franco era for about 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses who consciously objected to forced military service. We passed a beautiful theater with a wedding photoshoot going on out front, then we stopped at a cute bookstore-cafe. We set back out to the long land bridge to the lighthouse for sunset, which was absolutely stunning. After sunset, we headed back to our Airbnb to rest before dinner. Victoria very kindly treated me to dinner at El Faro, a lovely restaurant near the lighthouse. We had some amazing seafood – grilled sea bass was the clear winner of the evening.
On Sunday morning, we took a quick, freezing dip into our rooftop pool before checking out of the Airbnb. We set out again on foot and stopped at a huge monument to the 1812 Constitution, which, I read, only lasted for 2 years until the King re-declared absolute monarchy. We kept walking and stopped into the Museum of Cádiz, which was full of Roman-era artifacts excavated from the region. There were two complete sarcofacuses (sarcofaci?)! We climbed the Torre Tavira and had an amazing view from the top of the entire city. Cádiz is quite short; most buildings are only 4 or 5 stories, so it was easy to see the bay, the ocean, and the cathedral from a relatively low vantage point.
After, we stopped for some tortilla española at the open-air market before heading to the Cathedral. It was massive, with vaulted stone ceilings, and had some fascinating chapels. It also had a spacious crypt, which I thought was a bit creepy. Our ticket let us climb up the bell tower, where we got another beautiful view of the city. Despite the signs warning that the bells rang every 15 minutes, I was quite surprised when one gonged right beside us while we were looking out. We headed back down and grabbed a coffee at a really interestingly decorated cafe. Then I got a snack, and Victoria walked me to the train station for my ride back to Madrid. I have lots of photos, so I hope you enjoy! Cádiz was awesome 🙂 and it was such a blast to hang out with Victoria all weekend!
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be back to work! We only have three weeks before winter break, crazy! It will be a bit of a rush to the finish line, but I’m excited for the upcoming break! Sending you all my best!
Abe Tolkoff 