Day 5: Cádiz

We took a train to Cádiz, then from there a taxi to get directly to the centre, where we'd booked our Airbnb. The city itself extends over a kind of island, connected to the mainland by some roads.

I suddenly realised that at night, Cádiz had something that made it seem aged, but not in the negative sense. It seemed a bit suspended in time, and when we went out to eat something, almost everything was closed, except for a tapas bar hidden away amongst the alleys of the centre. The place was something out of the 50s, and the few people sat on the benches were elderly and there to drink and chat with friends.

The following morning we immediately decided to deal with the problem of the next and last stop of the trip, Granada. Sat in the living room of the house, with WiFi at our fingertips, we went crazy with bookings for the BlaBla Car, for Alhambra and for the place where we'd be sleeping. As these things take time, unfortunately two hours flew by, but at least we could relax for the rest of the day.

It was already 11:30am when we went out. We walked through the streets, through Plaza de las Flores, through the Central Market and we went in and visited the New Cathedral. It wasn't the best weather and it even began to rain at one point. We weren't wrong the evening before when we'd perceived a certain "antiquated" atmosphere in this city. Cádiz wasn't like Córdoba or Seville: the houses, the perspectives, the monuments, there was no Arabic influence that we'd observed so often in the previous days, that we'd been taking for granted in the south of Spain.

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We escaped the rain, running to take refuge in a museum of archaelogical discoveries, near the excavation of the Roman Theatre, the second largest in the world.

As soon as the sky became calmer, we were finally walking the street that lead to the promenade walk. It had been ages since we'd seen the sea, and right there and then all our enthusiasm and good humour came flooding back, the horrible weather and tiredness having gone away.

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We took a stroll along La Caleta beach, until we arrived at a white wooden structure built in memory of the 20s.

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Via an avenue that crosses the water, you can reach the San Sebastiàn Castle, located on a kind of island. Cádiz was different to the previous cities, but I really began to like it: the castle, between the seagulls flying high above, the boats anchored to the rocks and the stormy seas, it creates a very attractive setting. We only saw it from the outside, enjoying the brisk windand the salty sea aroma that we missed so much in those winter months.

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The sky brightened despite the dark clouds. We allowed ourselves a snack in a nearby bar, after which we entered the Genovès Park, a botanical garden on the coast of the sea.

If it was up to me, I'd have stayed there all night, but I started feeling hungry, so we went back towards the city centre.

It was Friday. Near 11pm the city started getting a bit more lively, but once again, like the good, model travellers we were, we wanted to go back home and sleep. The next day we'd be waking up early and we knew that we had no idea where to find the guy with the BlaBLa car that would take us to Granada.

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