When I awoke, we were in Cádiz. It was 9:00 PM, and we could see the sun setting through the clouds that were covering the majority of the sky. We had looked at the weather report before we got there and were expecting a full day of rain for the following day, Saturday.
Once we landed at our hotel, we dropped off our bags in the hotel. Not being one to waste any time, I told me roommates we should go out on the town and find something to do. We left in search of a place to find a beer or something and we happened upon a small pastelería, or baked good shop, that sold Cruzcampo, a beer that beer-enthusiasts wouldn't touch with a 20 foot pole. We took our beers to the beach and found a jetty, or éspigon and climbed out to the end of it. We drank, shot the breeze, and just relaxed. Drops of water would bounce off of the rocks and land on us like a mini rain cloud and the waves kept the rhythm in the background. This was a great way to start a beach vacation.
After the museum, we went to the cathedral, which was definitely one of the simpler churches we've seen thus far. They did have a crypt under the church that held two saints, so we obviously had to go down there. What I found more interesting was the echoing. It had a sort of whisper spot where I could here my friend whisper from across the room.
Unfortunately, after we left the museum, the rain hadn't ceased. There were puddles everywhere that formed a layer of water. I immediately regretted wearing shoes instead of flip flops. We swam, practically, to the bus stop and took the bus back to the hotel. Needless to say, we were soaked through and through, so we changed right away.
Instead of putting on actual clothes, we put on bathing suits, t shirts, and grabbed a towel. Even though it was still raining, or should I say downpouring, we didn't want to miss a beach day. We ran across the street to the beach and started throwing a frisbee. We tried to keep running to keep the blood flowing, so we ran back and forth throwing the frisbee. Then we decided that it was too cold and that there was no way that the water could have been colder. We ran full throttle into the ocean. Turns out it wasn't unbearable at all. We actually spent more time in the water, but we soon became cold and returned to the safety of the hotel. Within an hour things had changed.
The sun was out, it was warm, and it was only 4:00 PM. We returned to the beach to make the most of our day. Slowly, people from my program joined us and tanned and just relaxed along with us. After, we decided to actually go into the town. There was not a cloud in the sky. We walked along the beach and we found this tide pool where there were many starfish, sea slugs, and coral pieces. Though marine biology isn't my forte, I had a blast playing with all of the little creatures. We also got to see the sun set, which means it just went over to the United State because Cádiz is on the Atlantic. It was really nice.
After the sun set, we ventured through the city to find food. The first place we went to had fried fish, a favorite among Cadizians, but moriscos, or seafood, aren't my favorites. Then we went to this classy burger place. When I say classy, I mean it was nicer than five guys, but still not a 4 star restaurant. That really quenched my hunger and we all decided to go home. On the way, there were these fountains that changed color. I had to stop and look due to my ADHD.
We got back to the hotel and decided we wanted to go swimming again, for the third time that day. We got dressed in our suits and went into the water. It was far colder, so we only ran in and then out. Then we just sat on the beach and looked out into the ocean.
Sunday, an actual beach day. We started the day off with a boat tour of the Cádiz Harbor which was really nice because we got to see the city from the water. It lasted about an hour, which didn't feel like long enough. Then we took advantage of the day and went straight to the beach. I really didn't come to Cádiz for anything other than the beach. I had a field day here because I found so many things wash up on the shore. This included the remains of: una pez, a fish, un anguila, an eel, and un congrejo, a crab. I won't show you the pictures because they are kind of disgusting. But this was essentially our adventure through the beach paradise of Cádiz, my second favorite city of Spain thus far. Tomorrow I leave for Barcelona, which will be my last big trip for the semester. I'm sure you will get a long post about that as well, so keep checking back!
No comments:
Post a Comment