So Saturday morning I woke up and walked to the train station. I ate a light breakfast at the station, and then got on the train to Cadiz. The ride was about 2 hours long, and had some nice views, but I mostly read and listened to music. So then I got to Cadiz.
It was a little overcast, but mostly lovely.
First selfie of the day.
And I sort of started strolling through the town. I went past some nice fountains
and then town hall, which was nice. There was some sort of thing going on and there was a stage set up in front of it, and then teams of kids wearing yellow were running around the city with maps. So who knows.
So then I continued on to the plaza where the cathedral is at.
Like most cathedrals, it was big and impressive.
I don't know about y'all, but this cathedral has a very beachy feel, don't you think?
So, anyway, there was a cathedral and I went inside it. And it was wonderful. They had an overly-detailed audio guide. My favorite!
I'm pretty sure this is St. Peter. I think I see keys. I have to say, my religious iconography has improved drastically since I've been here.
cool floor patterns.
Honestly, the cathedral wasn't in the best upkeep, but it was old, and it felt old, and it had that kind of beauty about it. Plus, I loved the audioguide.
And the pulpit of course.
I actually forget what that piece is called, but I'm a big fan of those too. It looks like where God lives. I'm sure it's supposed to.
obligatory carvings of saints in the choir. Actually, this choir was made of just beautiful wood. Very dark. I think there may have been ebony involved.
Massive hymnals are my favorite.
The lovely organ.
Overdramatic selfie at the entrance to the crypt.
The crypt actually smelled really nice. I know that's weird.
So I followed my audio guide all around the church, looking at some of the cool chapels they have.
This is... important, but more than anything, impressive. It was just massive.
and so intricate
Ok, for so those of you who have been following my thoughts on Joseph (Jesus' stepdad) I just want to direct your attention to this picture. This is the chapel of Saint Joseph, and in the background there is a lovely picture of Joseph with baby Jesus, and it's nice and moving, but you really can't see it, because it's blocked. By a sculpture of Mary. In Joseph's chapel. I feel like that says something.
This was the sign on the stairs to the crypt. I died laughing.
I don't know what this is, but I think Indiana Jones is looking for it.
This looks like a room where people meet.
OH! So about halfway through my tour, these random people came up and had like choir practice or a mini concert, and so as I was going through the cathedral, I was being serenaded by these wonderful people singing Latin hymns. It was incredible.
So after the river in Sevilla went down too far for the big ships to come in, Cadiz became the place where all the ships went to, which is mostly why it is important. So it's a little newer than Sevilla, but... very different
For starters, it's tiny. It's technically a peninsula, but it feels more like an island.
At parts, it is maybe a 10 minute walk from water to water. Maybe. Also, it's not Mediterranean, it's actually in the Atlantic.
And it's funny, it smelled like the Atlantic too. I didn't realize, but the Mediterranean smells different, but as soon as I got to Cadiz, I just recognized the smell. It may not have looked much like Florida, but the ocean smelled the same.
So then I went over to this Tower to get a nice bird's eye of the city. They had a camera obscura, which was really cool, and definitely helped orient me in the city, in real time no less, and I saw some of the big landmarks and where they were in relation to each other. Which was very helpful.
So yeah, then I went up to the top of the tower, and looked around the town for myself.
Lots of water nearby, as you can see.
OH! I'm going there later int his blog. That's Saint Sebastian's castle. It's this castle out basically in the ocean, and you cross a bridge to get there. Super cool. I took pictures.
And there's the cathedral with its lovely gold dome.
Man, my hair looks shockingly good in this picture. Spoiler alert: it will not stay that way.
See? It's a small town, but busy.
It's just a pretty cathedral. I've got a picture that I took in the afternoon, and, oh, just wait.
So then I went down the tower and headed to the market to get some lunch. As I was walking around this nice covered open-air market with all these different stores, I realized something: of all the cities I have visited in Spain, this is the one that I think my mother would like best. I mean, I've been to a lot of really awesome cities, but this is the first one I feel like my mom could live in happily. It's a small enough town for her to have a community, but big enough for things to be happening. It's beautiful and sunny (I promise. It does get sunny) and there's a beach. It's a nice, relaxed sort of place, and I think she'd love it.
And this train of thought led me to realize that I've visited cities like that for the rest of my family too. And they are all different cities. It's interesting, because if you think about it, my nuclear family is... pretty different. I mean, we all have a lot in common, and we certainly get along well, but... well, if we went to Hogwarts we'd be in four different houses. (Dad's Gryffindor, Mom's Hufflepuff, I'm Ravenclaw, and Nicole is Slytherin. It's true. Also, not insulting. Slytherin is cunning and ambitious, not evil. And everybody should want to be a Hufflepuff.) But then being in Cadiz and just getting this feeling that this is Mom's kind of city made me realize that I have been to cities that are equally perfect for the rest of my family. Dad, for example, would love Lisbon. It's by the river, it's beautiful, it's historic, it's got a sense of adventure and is a bit off the beaten track, but ultimately, it's relaxing. (Interestingly (and fortunately) of these four cities, I think Dad would be second-happiest in Cadiz, and Mom second-happiest in Lisbon. Aren't they adorable.) Then Nicole would thrive in Barcelona. It's by the beach (how did I wind up with such a beach family? I'm a mountains girl!), it's young, and hip, and cosmopolitan, and even it's history is a little funky. It's a little rebellious, and less Spanish than European. But I gave my heart to Castilla. I love the mountains and the rolling hills of central Spain, Toledo most of all. It's got a long literary tradition, and a slower pace of life. It feels old in a way that I'm not sure beach towns ever can. It used to be a great city of cross-cultural interaction, and there are a lot of vestiges of that, but now it's a bit... sleepy. And I like that.
So I thought about that a lot as I bought a delicious Samosa (It's almost Indian food. I was so happy) and started walking out to that castle I pointed out earlier
I decided to walk by the shore, because let's face it, that way I couldn't get lost.
Also, there is no point in going to the beach if you aren't going to be by the water.
So at some point it started raining
In case you're wondering, this is the beginning of my descent into "wet and bedraggled small animal" chic
But dang that castle looks dramatic out there!
I call this "windswept half-Princess Leia"
I call this "a door that looks like the Paths of the Dead, but if they were on the ocean, not under a mountain." It's actually just the gate for the walkway to the castle.
"wet fox"
This is a famous beach.
"drowned rat with beach"
"drowned rat with beach II"
This is looking back towards the mainland over the beach.
I walk a lonely road, the only one I've ever known.
Oh, yeah, that's another castle on the other side of the beach. Spain, am I right?
"Soggy chipmunk"
It wasn't actually too long a walk, but I also wasn't in a hurry.
Plus, I was looking out on the sea.
And the tide pools.
Those are tide pools, right?
"drenched aplaca"
"sodden eagle"
WHOAAA WE'RE HALFWAY THERE
WHOA-O WE'RE LIVIN' ON A PRAYER
Oh! Look at that tide pool thing. It goes under the bridge, and it was quite pretty.
"Moistened Chihuahua"
That's the tide pool under the bridge.
I told you it was pretty.
The tide pools and then the ocean and the rest of the city.
Almost there.
I love those little tower things.
So, I admit that the inside of the castle wasn't really terribly impressive.
The outside was much cooler,
("Damp Hawk")
but the inside was kind of drab.
The real reason to go out was the views.
I mean, you were out by the open ocean.
Here's that bridge.
And the other castle in the background.
"Blow-dried poodle"
So, yea, by the time I got back to the beach, it was sunny again. And, I like Cadiz in the rain, but man, in the sun it was something to see. So, I walked along the beach to the other castle, and, while I was walking, I accidentally turned my camera on black and white, but I didn't know it, so I took a bunch of really pretentious black and white photographs, reproduced here for your amusement.
May you stare pretentiously and nod thoughtfully. I considered titling these too, but then I realized that it would just be too artsy, and let's be real, ladies and gentlemen: this is not a classy enough blog to pull that off. I mean, I just titled a bunch of selfies with synonyms for "wet" and animal names. Who are we kidding here?
THIS! This is what I was trying to take, dorky foot pictures. Not pictures that make me look like a snob!
wait- did it change to sepia?
what is this?
Are we back at Black and White?
Oh, I arrived at the other castle, by the way.
So then somehow my camera mysteriously got it's act together,
See, back to dorky selfies with castles in the background.
This is as pretentious as it gets from here on out, folks!
So, yeah, this castle had a bit more to see, even if the walk wasn't as spectacular.
But the view was still nice.
Ok. this is a panorama I took. I don't know how well it worked, but I thought I'd include it anyway.
Yeah, so inside there was a nice little courtyard thing.
And an art museum
Which had this really cool exhibit of paintings and poems together
And it was really cool.
Oh, this is a Da Vinci quote that kind of summed up the exposition "Painting is poetry that you can see but not hear, and poetry is painting that you can hear, but not see."
I love these little Andalucian castles.
These are plates I found in the museum representing different parts of the bullfight.
I just thought it was so cool.
Yeah, so as I walked around the clouds started to go away, and it turned into a lovely day.
I went inside the little chapel.
There was a couple getting their wedding pictures done here (actually, fantastic idea) so I took a stalker picture of the cameraman. This is my life. These are my choices.
So I left the castle, and headed to some gardens.
On the way I saw this awesome old car.
There were dinosaurs in the dry fountain in this park.
I know it looks like I'm yawning, but that is a roar.
And there was this cool cave thing.
The park was right up against the ocean.
Look, Alexz! (If you still read this blog) CATS!
Aww, I feel like I"m home. (for those of you who don't speak Spanish, it actually says "southern United States" on the plaque.)
And now I feel like I'm in a Tim Burton movie.
I feel like I'm on a boat?
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that hair? Like... wow.
So I then found another garden.
And just sort of kept going.
I was basically going around the edge of the half of the island with all the historic stuff in it.
And I do mean the edge.
I think this is an important tree.
But I know it's a big tree.
That I want to climb.
Look at that.
It's so beautiful.
So then I headed back towards the market
And stopped and got some calamari at this fish place the lady at my hostel recommended.
I know it doesn't look like calamari. It also wasn't called calamari. It's still calamari.
So then I still had a bit of time before my train left, and I heard that the view from the beach on the OTHER side of the cathedral was just stunning.
So off I went.
That's the beach I'm headed to.
It may have been rainy earlier, but this weather could not have been more perfect.
I mean, look at the color of that water. I didn't know the Atlantic could be anything other than sort of vaguely grey.
But it was so beautiful.
In case you're wondering, this is what happens when I forget that I've flipped my camera.
I was trying to take a picture of this. It's like a yellow-brick road!
I don't even have comments on these pictures.
I mean, I put this as my new cell phone background.
What else do you do with pictures this beautiful?
well, you selfie.
And now a break from your regularly scheduled selfie face, to give you an expression of disbelief at the stunning beauty around me:
Like, really? How do you get this pretty!
So I went down to the beach and I took off my shoes and I was starting over to the water when, I swear, my foot hit a metal thing buried in the sand and cut one of my toes. It hurt. So I went and rinsed it off in the ocean and then proceeded to climb around for a little bit, because, seriously, I was there, I might as well enjoy it. My toe wouldn't cause me to bleed out before I had my fun. So then I went back to the dry part of the beach and washed my toe off and, because I am shockingly well-prepared, I pulled neosporin and a band-aid out of my bag and took care of my toe. I'm quite proud of myself on that one.
Anyway, so then I headed toward the direction of the train station via
This thing
Which is a big gate that used to be the city wall
but now just connects the old city with the new city. I spent the day in the old city. That's the fun part.
So, yeah, I headed back the train station,
passed a fountain, got some fro yo, and boarded the train.
And that was my wonderful, fabulous, beautiful, amazing day in
So I hope you get to go there sometime, mother, and everybody, really. All of these places. I haven't been anywhere yet where I wouldn't recommend people to go. And when you do, I hope you love them as much as I do.
