Spanish Road Trip continues...

17.10.05

Arrived in Cadiz like 3 in the afternoon. The first thing I noticed was the heat! Geez, if I thought Seville was cooking, Càdiz was boiling baby! It was at least 32 degrees, sunny and humid! I was taking my chances by not booking my accommodation ahead of time and I must have still been in Lady Luck’s good grace as I managed to secure a 4 mixed dorm accommodation for the night. After checking in, I was further elated to discover that I had the whole room to myself! What did I do first thing after dropping off that turtle shell? No points for guessing, that’s right, checking out that beach!!

This is going to sound shocking, rather than just walking on the beach like most tourists, this sports bunny had to go and overdo things hadn’t she. I'm sticking to the excuse that I needed to stretch my legs after the bus ride, hence the jog. As it was considered to be “cold” autumn season, there was hardly anyone on the beach except for me, a few seagulls and a few broad shouldered hunky surf babes. Of course as I was running past them, I did my best Baywatch impression, running and tossing my hair etc. It had the desired effect on the boys until, also living up to my famous reputation, I stepped on some soft sand and stumbled rather ungracefully and disgracefully, didn't fall though..but perhaps I should have, then I could have buried my head in the sand in shame! *grumble* The sands were not like white powder, but nevertheless, a welcome change to the city scene of Seville.

That night, I met up with some of the others staying at the hostel. The bunch of them were playing a card game called “dumbass” and they invited me to join in, (was I really that obvious?!) We had lots of fun that night since most of them already started drinking since 2pm. Everyone had problems with names, so soon, any attempts at recalling names were abandoned and instead, we dubbed each other by our countries of origin and so I was “Kiwi”, and there were “Aussie”, “Iowa”, “Cath” and “Kim”, “Miss Ireland” and “Guiness” (couple of really mad Irish ppl!) It’s quite rare I think when you have such a big group of people, each with their own distinctive personalities, coming from different countries and yet all able to become best of friends in one single night..really rewarding to feel like you are meeting old friends, rather than new. The night of merry making was not without its ill effect though, resulting in the birth of a hairless panda bear (black ring around the eyes) the next morning.

18.10.05

So this hairless panda bear trotted off to see Cadiz through half closed eyes, which of course looked completely shut for those not specially trained in detecting Chinese half closed eyes. Being more famous for its summer fiestas and beach paradise retreat, it came as no surprise for me that there would only be two places of special interest in the town itself, the local Cathedral and the Plaza de la Mina and Plaza Espana. The cathedral, built after the Christian’s reconquest of Spain in the 14th century, its special features include having a dome clad with gilded tiles and its majestic interior adorned with marble and coloured jaspers. Also climbed up the tower (surprise, surprise) and took great pictures of the city.

Plaza de la Mina and Plaza Espana are located side by side near the town’s port. Plaza Espana has the Monument of the Parliament, erected in early 19th century to commemorate Cadiz being the cradle of Spain’s liberal movement, first established here in 1812. Plaza de la Mina is a beautiful small garden, with hundreds of years old ficus trees providing much welcomed shade from the sun and this plaza is also home to Cadiz prodigal son, the famous composer, Manuel de Falla, and his tomb could be found in the crypt of the Cathedral. Believe it or not, only after such short tour of the city, I was already drenched in perspiration, so rushed back to the hostel for a quick shower, grabbed my turtle shell and off to the next destination, Granada!

The Cathedral, nestled in the heart of this sleepy town, surrounded by lazily swaying palm trees...ahhh paradise.

View of the Mediterranean from the top of the Cathedral.

View of the coast hugging town from the top.

The monument at Plaza de la Mina.

AO Rating of Càdiz: Although I only stayed one night, I saw what I wanted and it’s one of those sleepy costal towns where if all you want to do is catch some waves, chill read a book and collect the Miss Dumbass title (oh wait, that was just me), then Càdiz will be your ideal getaway!

19.10.05

I arrived late the night before from Càdiz and so nothing much to report except that I checked in safely into the hostel. It was interesting (and scary to a degree) to walk around trying to find your hostel and realised that it was on a very dark dingy looking street. As you knocked on the bare wooden door, wondering whether it would collapse with each knock, you would also ponder as to what kind of rat hole have you got yourself into this time booking an accommodation such as this. Then when the door’s opened, you would be blown away by the modernly designed courtyard welcoming you into this establishment. You would be further astonished by the cleanliness and the freshly painted interior of the hostel. Yes ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Spain. I’m however going to contradict myself now by saying this. By this stage also, I had come to realise that Spanish people take a lot of pride in their image, i.e it is important for them to present their best to the others, at least on the surface anyway. As such, everything must always look good externally. Fresh paint, bright colours on the buildings, on people, bold coloured and expensive clothing, perfect make up and leather shoes with shiny belt buckles.

Granada is probably famous for lots of things but once again, I was only spending two nights there and my main interest in visiting Granada would have to experience viewing Spain’s most famous Moorish fortress, the Alhambra! (All-harm-bra). If not the grandest, it was certainly the largest of them all. Not only was it the royal Palace to the Nasrid Sultans during the 13th century, it was also an Alcazaba (military stronghold), Medina (inner city) and the Generalife (royal agricultural estate), all rolled into one. In terms of actual size area, it was larger than the Versailles in France and my 6 hours walk and over 100 photos would be proof of what was required to truly appreciate this historical grandeur! It was such a popular tourist attraction that the authorities have to limit the number of visitors per day to 6,000. This meant that people are often advised to book their tickets at least 2 days in advance to be able to frequent this historical site. Ironically, I took my chance and simply walked up to the fortress half expecting to be turned away but to my delight, I was able to get in without being trapped in one of the many horror 8 hour queue stories you hear about with places such as this. Let me give you a brief guided tour with some of the pictures I have taken. Exhausted after my titanic excursion for the day, I spent a quiet evening relaxing at the Britz Hostel after another night of delicious tapas and checking of emails.

View of the Alhambra walls in the midst of green hills.

What was left of the castle's residential housing plan.

View of the Cathedral from one of the towers in Alhambra.

Alhambra's famous monument of the 5 dogs and the Moorish styled castle roofs. You'll have to wait until I get home for the rest of the stupendous photos!

20.10.05

Goodness me, today marked exactly one month since I have departed the shores of New Zealand to explore the treasures of Europe, past and present. Time indeed flew when one was having fun! As I had a long bus ride ahead of me to Madrid, the little time in the morning I had, I spent exploring the city’s Cathedral. Shamefully its history and information I omit due to the rush (ok,ok so I lost the pamphlet on the church, can’t hide anything from you guys!). But hopefully a case of picture speaks louder than words…

Ok, since you've already seen the outside of the church, here's the inside. This is a very elaboratedly gilded pew located at the main altar.

AO Rating: If there is anything you can’t miss when visiting Granada, certainly that would be the Alhambra, Indeed the fortress is so impressive it would cause all sorts of harm to not only your bras, but guarantee to get your knickers into a knot!