Well, it’s been a few days now and after letting my body recharge, fixing the heat in our apartment, and getting back into the swing of things in school (although a three day week isn’t exactly all that demanding), I feel I can now accurately write about and reflect on another exciting weekend. After getting together with Russ two weeks ago in Cordoba, we decided that I would try and head down to Cadiz for the puente. Puente is the Spanish word for “bridge” and is what they use to describe a day off from school or a long weekend. The puente this last weekend on Monday is called la Immaculada or “the feast of the Immaculate Conception”. This really marks the beginning of the Christmas season here in Spain. But enough about religious celebrations, back to my much more exciting weekend.
I departed from Baeza on Thursday afternoon, when I caught a 5:00 bus heading to Cordoba. I had a 28 minute layover in Cordoba, where I needed to catch the last train of the day, to Cadiz. Unfortunately, due to the rain that day, my bus was 24 minutes late. I found myself running to the ticket counter, but upon arriving received the bad news that I could no longer buy tickets here for the train. However, the man also told me that if I ran, I might be able to catch the train and then buy a ticket after boarding. Like a bullet I ran to the platform of my train, only to find it empty. After some disappointment I asked a man nearby if the train to Cadiz had just left. Thankfully he told me that it was late too! A minute later, my ride to Cadiz rolled into the station and I hopped on.
Upon arriving in Cadiz, I found Russ and we headed off to his piso (apartment). I am not lying when I say that he lives on the beach. Although his door faces the main avenue, the backside of his building is on the path alongside the beach. Absolutely beautiful. Not to mention, the beach in Cadiz is one of the longest and uninterrupted beaches in the world. By this I mean that it is not broken up by docks, ports, or bridges jutting out into it. It literally goes off in both directions almost as far as you can see from his building. Cadiz itself is a very old city, in fact it is actually the oldest still standing city in Western Europe and dates back to 1104 BC and the Phoenicians. I could talk plenty more about the history, but this fact alone is what really amazed me.
It was 11:30 at night when I arrived and after not having any dinner, I was quite hungry. So we dropped my bag off at his apartment, which he shares with another auxiliar from Toronto and a Spanish teacher, and we headed to grab a burger at a place outside his door. We then walked around the corner to the apartment of two of Russ’s friends, Shane and Aoife, two of the coolest people that I met in Cadiz. They are an Irish couple who moved down to Cadiz at the end of the summer, sort of on a whim. They wanted to get out of Ireland for awhile and randomly chose Cadiz. Well they were really cool and lots of fun and after meeting with them for a bit, Russ and I left and met up with some of his other friends at a bar in the old part of Cadiz (Russ lives in the new part). In Cadiz, there are a ton of Erasmus students from all over Europe. These are university students who decided to study abroad at another university in Europe. Well apparently the University of Cadiz is quite popular because this night and every other night that I was in town, we hung out with some of these students. Spain, France, England, Ireland, the US, Italy, Hungary, you name it.
Friday was probably our laziest day in a way of the weekend. We slept in and then walked around a bit while getting some food for a late lunch. The one item on our agenda that was the opposite of lazy and relaxing was our trip to the pool for Russ’s swim practice. He has been training with a team down there and on this day I decided I would join them for practice. I don’t regret it, but there were definitely several times that I thought I might throw up, not to mention I could not get my body to function the way it used to. For those of you swimmers reading this, 6 x 100s stand ups long course are not the easiest thing to do after one practice since July. It wasn’t pretty but I got through it.
Following swim practice, we returned to Russ’s apartment where we met Ruth, his roommate from Toronto. Russ and I then went to a really good tapas restaurant down the beach, where we waited to meet up with Ruth and head down to the old part. After her arrival, we hopped on a bus and made our way to our friend Paige’s apartment where we got a great view at night of the city from her roof. After wandering around the old part for awhile at night, we made our way to a really cool tapas restaurant where we met up with Shane and Aoife. Despite how incredibly hot it was in there, the food was absolutely great and the six of us had a great time. Following this we made our way back to the same bar we had been at the previous night, which they call the pirate bar even though it has nothing to do with pirates. Although the bartender did resemble one quite a bit. Here we met Russ’s other roommate Christian, as well as several other of their friends. After two other stops and a bit of dancing, we ended the night and made our way home.
Saturday, and I’m sure Russ will agree to this as well, was the best day of my trip. After a disappointing start, the fun never stopped. Our initial plan was to rent a cabin in a town a little less than an hour away. However, when the prices ended up being much more than we had been told, we dropped that idea. What came of this bad luck was much good fortune. After much trouble finding an open grocery store, we found a little shop with bread, meat, cheese, drinks, and other snacks, we formed our picnic lunch and headed down the beach to the dunes where we would spend the afternoon. Russ, myself, Shane, Aoife, Will, and Ali (an Irish auxiliar) spent the day eating, drinking, talking, and listening to music on the beach. It was absolutely fantastic and perfect weather. Will, Russ, and I even managed to do a refreshing but very brief ocean swim. The water was pretty cold! The day also really provided me a great opportunity to really get to know some of Russ’s friends here in Cadiz. They are some good people and hopefully I’ll be seeing them again.
Following our time on the beach, we all parted ways and Russ and I headed back to his apartment to rest a bit and eat some more food. What we didn’t realize was that we would spend this time on ichat with David, Tyler, Sean, and Jason. For those who don’t know David is in Ohio and the other three guys are in Minneapolis and are all some of our best friends. Russ and I, and later Shane and Aoife, all enjoyed this. It really was the best of both worlds, as we got a little of everything that day, from Cadiz all the way back to the US. To end the night, we all headed out to Rockodromo, a nearby bar with really good American and British rock. It was a great day in which we really did everything that I could have possibly imagined.
Sunday, my final full day in Cadiz, we awoke and after heading down to the beach for a bit started a nice long walk that would ultimately take us nearly all day. Starting at Russ’s, we we headed down along the beach towards the old part of the city. Before making it very far though, we made a pit stop at a great Chinese restaurant that Russ knew of. I felt very satisfied as we walked out the door. As we made our way to the old part, unfortunately we found many places closed. That was actually a common theme all weekend. Most of the tourist attractions, although there aren’t many, were closed for the holiday weekend or open very few hours of the day. However we did get to see the main city wall, the cathedral, many cool old buildings, and a castle/fort on the water. At the cathedral, we started by heading up the tower to get a great view of the city. It was a bit cloudy that day, but the view was spectacular. Cadiz is literally almost completely surrounded by water. On one side you have the port, where there often are huge cruise liners that at night are completely lit up with incredible lights. And on the other side is the public beach and the Atlantic Ocean. It is a beautiful place. I found myself trying to imagine what it would be like during Carnival, the Mardi Gras type festival, and I really couldn’t. I am planning to come back for the opening weekend of the festival and will definitely post again for that.
The cathedral is not all that different than many of the others that I’ve seen. Although, it might be the newest one that I’ve visited. It was built in the 1850s and the one really noticeable thing that is quite different from others is the width of it. It is not a long cathedral at all. Hopefully you can see from the front facade how incredibly wide it is. More like a square than a typical cathedral. Inside, there is one other large difference. Underneath the cathedral is a large tomb. The only other tomb I have seen in a cathedral is the one in the chapel in Granada, but this one in Cadiz completely dwarfs Fernando and Isabel’s. It is a large circle with several separate rooms branching off and the echo in the center of the circle was fantastic.
After leaving the cathedral we walked along the beach until we reached the narrow road that led us out to the castle/fort. Once again, unfortunately the inside of the castle was closed on this day, but being the adventurers that we are, Russ and I headed down off the path onto the rocks. We journeyed into the night around the castle. At times the road was treacherous, but thankfully we both made it all the way around the castle without any injuries. After we finally made it back to the path, we walked back to the plaza that surrounds the cathedral and found a little cafe to enjoy a Fanta and rest our legs for awhile. Then we hopped on a bus back to the new part and Russ’s apartment. Soon afterwards, we went and grabbed a bite at a decent donor kebab place and then relaxed at Will’s with some friends. To finish off the day, we headed back to Rockodromo to enjoy a few more drinks and some great music before calling it quits for the day.
Monday, we woke up and headed towards the train station where I was to leave at 11:00. After a quick breakfast nearby, we parted ways and I headed to Sevilla where I was to catch a bus back to Baeza. What turned out to be some good luck, I had a two hour layover in Sevilla, so I grabbed a map and started walking. Being that is was a religious holiday, the streets were filled with families and people enjoying the day. I walked around the cathedral (yep it was closed) and made my way down to the river where I enjoyed a bocadillo (sandwich) before grabbing the bus back to Baeza. After arriving in Baeza shortly after 8:00 that night, I finally was back to the “real world”. Too bad it would only last a few days as my work week was only to be three days! How awful!
Well, I might have one more entry before I leave for my Christmas break travels. But if not, I wish all of you a wonderful and safe Christmas. and New Year’s.
Until next time.
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