Cádiz – Thursday 31 March

We had a late breakfast and arrived at Cádiz around noon.

Our walking tour of Cádiz started around 1 PM. We first got to the monument to the first Spanish Constitution (they have several more with the most recent from when Genalisimo Franco died) and then started walking through the town past old fortifications.

This house is partially restored. The right half is a high end hotel.

This is a closeup to a sandstone wall and you can see the sea shells in the stone.

This is a part of the fortification showing where the cannon would have been to fight off the pirates.

Across the bay from Cádiz is the Rota USN Base.

There are many small parks with all manner of vegetation from bougainvillea (growing from inside a house) to rubber trees, magnolias and palm trees.

This is a central square with one of many Catholic Churches.

The streets are narrow, as you would expect in a very old city.

We then came to the Basilica. It was built in the 17th century using limestone in the interior, which given the humid maritime climate, wasn’t the best idea. It is now mostly used as a source of tourist Euros, given the cost of maintenance of this an the many other churches in Cádiz.

This is the silver construction wheeled around town for certain festivals. It is so heavy that it is on wheels rather than being held up by men.

We then went down into the crypt, which was huge and had incredible echoes.

As we started to walk back toward the ship, we saw the church which was converted from a mosque after the Christians drove the Moors out.

Then, we walked down a short street, next to the 2000 year old ruins of a Roman Theater. You could see our Viking Sea from there.

I got one final shot of the Basilica as we went back to the ship.

This is a picture of the bridge over to the mainland, probably the longest bridge in Western Europe, taken from our State Room.

We are now relaxing in the State Room and will have a late dinner. We will be pushing off at 8:30 PM, to go through the Straits of Gibraltar. Unfortunately this will happen around midnight and the mood is waxing, but we will try to see something. Tomorrow is a day on the Mediterranean before getting to Valencia on Saturday.