A quick trip to Cadiz, Spain

I was originally planning to go to Granada but a Granada trip wouldn't be complete without seeing Alhambra, which is what every other visitor seem to think so as well because tickets were sold out until November. I had to rework my plans for my days off since I wanted to get out of Malaga and explore more of Andalusia, the south region of Spain. I was toying with a few different locations such as Cordoba, Gibraltar, Nejar, and Ronda but I wanted to stay overnight so Cadiz seemed like a good option since it was far enough to stay overnight but close enough to do only a 2 day trip. Cadiz is the oldest city in Spain so it has a ton of history and a big surf and beach city, so I thought it would be the perfect getaway. 

What I did...

Day 1

• Free Walking Tour: I probably could have done without this. To be honestly, it was one of the worse, and most boring walking tours I've never been on, and I've been on a ton. It wasn't the tour guide's fault, or maybe it was, but there really wasn't much going on in Cadiz. There is great history associated with the city but other than that, the city doesn't have gorgeous attractions or "wow" factor to make the tour exciting. 
  • A few facts I learned:
    • People in Cadiz speak the fastest Spanish in the entire country and they are proud of it
    • Cadiz does it big for Carnival, second to Rio. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be in the city for that or else that would have been really dope.
    • ne of the James Bond movie was shot here, trying to play it off as Cuba since a lot of architecture has the same influence.
    • Christopher Columbus set sail from Cadiz
    • There are more than 100 cannons and watchtowers in the city
• Cadiz Cathedral tower for aerial view of the city, the highest point in old town
  • I didn't go into the cathedral itself because I read only that it's a bit disappointing and I've seen so many churches already through Europe that another one would drive me crazy.
  • It's 5 euros to go up to the tower and the view is nice, but nothing spectacular. 

• Tried Cadiz's specialty food and drinks
  • Pescaito Frito (fried fish): this was definitely a highlight! Since Cadiz is a port city, the seafood is delicious and fresh. They are known for their fried seafood so I tried Fried Shrimps, Fried Octopus, and a shrimp fritta.
  • Sherry Wine: oh man, where do I even begin... I did not like this at all. It smells like vodka, tastes like vodka-wine. I only had a small glass and it took me over an hour to finish and I was struggling. I guess I had to try it since it's a local delicacy but that was the first and only time.

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• Plaza de las Flores
  • This is the flower market but was also a bit disappointing. There were only about 4 stalls selling flowers. I was imagining the flower market to be blooming (pun intended) with beautiful aroma and a sight for sore eyes but it was very far from that. The flowers didn't look bright or fresh and the plaza was pretty small. 

• Barrio del Populo
  • This street is supposed to be great for night life with cool cafes and shops but since I was there on a Monday, there wasn't much going on. 
  • Some alleyways were cute but the entire area didn't look much different than the rest of the city
• I took a 2.5 hour nap since I worked and then went straight to Cadiz. I was exhausted so I napped and accidentally missed the sunset.
  • Apparently, watching the sunset at Playa de las Caleta is beautiful but I was too exhausted to push myself to get up for it.

• Dinner at La Gorda te da de comer
  • was planning to have dinner at the hostel but they cancelled so I went to eat tapas with a group of Swedish girls, another American girl, an Argentinian guy, and a Bosnian guy. 
  • We shared a ton of tapas and each had drinks for a really good price. 
  • We had scorpian fish pate, fried dogfish, bravas, veggies with marinara, more fried fish, and a ton of other things I can't remember
• The best part
  • Up until this point, I kind of made Cadiz sound terrible but it's really not. I was comparing it to Malaga and other Spanish cities I've been to. It's stick a really great place to live and visit! Maybe it just isn't for me.
  • However, the best part was meeting people at the hostel, Casa Carasol. The hostel I stayed at had a great rooftop with hammocks and a great place to socialize and meet people. The rooftop closes at midnight so we migrated down to the living room which is open until about 2:30
    • I think the people you meet while traveling is the best part, it can either make or break your experience in the city. So my experience in the city was exponentially improved by the company I had. There were about like 20 or so people all sitting in a circle sharing beers and wine. It was pretty awesome!

Day 2

• I was originally supposed to leaving at 12:30pm to make it back home for my Spanish class but the blablablacar wanted to pick me up an hour by bus away and then drop me off another hour away. It was a bit too complicated and it also didn't leave me much to go to the beach so I decided to skip out on my Spanish class and take a later rideshare back to Malaga.
• Mercado Central
  • This is better known as the fish market because they don't sell anything besides fish. It was cool to see giant tuna fishes but it was also pretty small. 

• Beach time!
  • This was definitely one of the best part! Cadiz is known for their beaches and surfing so the trip here wouldn't have been complete without it. 
  • I definitely got my tan on since I was there for about 5 hours. The weather was beautiful, not too cold, not to hot. Plus since this is considered their winter, the beach wasn't crowded either. 
  • I actually even met this guy who just graduated from SFSU and taking a year off to travel, so we shared a bond over that. 
  • I was actually hoping to surf but everything was booked ); Next time!
• I headed back to the hostel around 4:30pm since I had to shower, pack up, and head to the train to take into the city inland of Cadiz to meet my ride.

Thoughts overall...

Cadiz was a lovely city to visit from Malaga and a nice change of scenery but if I was traveling from elsewhere to Spain, it probably wouldn't be on my top list of places to visit. Don't get me wrong, Cadiz has a nice corkiness to it but the city overall is a bit bland for my liking. However, to be fair, I was only there for 1 night so I didn't give it much of an effort. So take my opinion with a grain of salt.