Cadiz, Spain – December 13

Cadiz is one of the oldest cities on the Atlantic coast in Europe. It was founded by the Phoenicians around 3,000 years ago. It overlooks the Straights of Gibraltar and 2 of Columbus’ trips started from here. When the Romans overtook the town there were about 50,000 people living here. The Romans built an aqueduct from the mountains that was about 75 kilometers long. The city was walled in the past. During our walking tour we saw the 2 remaining gates and part of the original walls.

Around 1717, was the heyday of the city. It was a major port for trade with the Americas. The legend of Hercules originates in this area of Europe. At Gibraltar there were messages to sailors to “go no further” and then the new world was discovered. According to our guide, the Temple of Hercules was recently found in the waters near this city.

Many of the streets do not have cobblestones, but river rocks from America. This is because the ships would use the river rock as ballast and off load it here before taking on the Spanish good to trade.

The old cathedral was originally a mosque. We could not go into it. The building of the new Cathedral was begun in 1722. It took 116 years to complete. The crypt is below sea level but stays dry. There is a spot in the crypt where if you make a loud noise it will echo 16 times. We tried it and it did! The Cathedral’s organ contains 17,000 pipes.

After visiting the Cathedral we walked through many of the plazas. We saw Plaza de la Flores, Plaza Candalaria and Plaza San Antonio. Most of them were lovely parks surrounded by old buildings. The streets in the old part of the city were narrow and winding.

Cadiz is also called the city of 100 towers. They get about 300 days of sun being on the Costa de la luz. Many movie companies film here because of all the great light. The new part of town was not started until the 1950s. The city actually is almost like a peninsula with water around a good portion of it. The waters were very clear. Locals are not allowed to scuba dive or snorkel because there are so many shipwrecks and ancient structures in the surrounding waters that are valuable and can only be accessed by government agencies.

In ancient times because there are very high tides here, they were able to mine for salt. It was a valuable commodity and even soldiers were paid in salt.

Today the port is busy with cruise ships and commerce. They export from here wheat, olives, oranges and cotton to name a few.

When we returned to the ship we had tea and scones.