We had a morning left in Cadiz before catching the bus back to Conil. We decided we would visit the Cathedral, which is located in the Plaza de la Catedral which houses not on the cathedral itself but also the Baroque Santiago church, built in 1635.

The church was known as “The Cathedral of The Americas” because it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. The 18th century was a golden age for Cádiz, and the other cathedral that the city had got, Santa Cruz, was very small for this new moment of Cádiz. The new cathedral was built from 1722 to 1838.

As with most of the places of interest we have visited on this trip, the Audio guide is accessed on one’s smartphone. We followed the tour around the church and the crypt underneath.

This is one of the most ornamental Choirs in Andalucia, with a double-set of seats – the upper set having been relocated from a monastery in Sevilla.

This processional and artist piece of “jewelery” is made entirely of silver and stands 5.5m tall. Created in two steps, the eucharistic tower began construction in 1648 and completed on 1664.

The bell tower is 74m high and the ticket to the Cathedral also includes access to the bell tower. The “spiral” staircase is a gentle slope, presumably to allow access via a mule. Stunning views can be had from the top of the tower.

The remainder of the week was spent relaxing around the campsite – reading, more Spanish lessons and of course the weekly Quiz. This week we managed a respectable 5th place after loosing out to a monetary 4th place prize by the tie-breaker question.

Always next week…

We decided that on Day 2 we would catch the boat to el Puerto de Santa Maria. This leaves from the dock area near to where the cruise ships visit and the single price is less than 3 Euros. Today though, only one of the Catamarans was running and the outbound journey was via a bus.

We arrived in el Puerta de Santa Maria late morning – the port know locally just as El Puerto and known by the British as Port Saint Mary – nestled on the banks of the Guadalete river.

In 711, Arab (Moors) from the North of Africa conquered southern Spain. They renamed the town Alcante or Alcanatif which means Port of Salt, due to the old salt industry of Phoenicians and Romans.

In 1260, Alfonso X of Castile conquered the city from the Moors and renamed it Santa María del Puerto. He organized the land distribution and conceded a charter under the Crown of Castile. Having received a royal charter the city was then allowed to use the title “El” prior to the name of the city itself. This is a distinguishing property and even though Madrid is the capital of Spain it has not earned this distinction.

Christopher Columbus’s first expedition to the Americas set sail from El Puerto de Santa María. His pilot, Juan de la Cosa drew his world map (the first including the coast of New World) in El Puerto in 1500.

In the nineteenth century the city became the General Headquarters for the French Army during the Peninsular War under the reign of Joseph Bonaparte (1801–1812). The town is steeped in history, museums and monuments.

Our first stop was the Castillo de San Marcos, a medieval castle. This was erected by King Alfonso X as a fortified church and it was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla still survives.

This room is the prayer area of the original muslim mosque, which itself had been built on Roman foundations and utilised the marble columns which are still visible today. The columns are original, but the soft sandstone used to construct them is attacked by humidity so mostly this has been clad is some kind of plaster / mortar render.

On one of the columns, can be seen the original stonework.

Lunch was a recommendation from one of the Spanish ladies at the Castle. “La Liba” was situated along the waterside of the Guadalete river. As often happens, although we only ordered small portions these turned out to be larger than normal Tapas. I guess there’s a lesson not to order it all at once!

We then headed to the Plaza de Toros de El Puerto or, the Port of Santa Maria bullring. Today though was Tuesday, and many places are closed on Tuesdays. The arena is 99m in diameter with the central section measuring 60m and the bullring, one of the largest in Spain, with its capacity of 12,186 was, sadly, closed.

Late afternoon we caught the catamaran back to Cadiz and wandered around the old streets of Cadiz. We enjoyed nice views of the town of Cadiz and the “Constitution of 1812 Bridge” which opened in 2015 and has a total length of 3,092 metres. The bridge links the towns of Cadiz and Puerto Real.

An early end to the Spanish lesson as we caught the lunchtime bus from Conil to Cadiz. At 5 Euros each, that was great value for money.

We also had a great deal on our hotel, the Hotel Las Cortes de Cadiz. A four star hotel which we managed to secure for about 60 Euros a night. It was a lovely hotel right in the heart of the Old Town. Very clean and well maintained.

We arrived mid to late afternoon and embarked on a long walk around the old-town and the edge of the coast. The weather was a bit blustery with a cool northerly wind testing the few layers of clothes we’d managed to bring along.

Today is Valentines day (Hoy es la dia de los enamorades) and we felt lucky to be able to book a nice restaurant – Restaurante Balandro. We weren’t in the posh part with the white linen tables but we had a high top in the bar area. Apparently the food is the same but twice the price when served on white linen!

We ordered Tapas, the highlight being a selection of fried Fish.

Our waitress wasn’t able to translate what we were eating into English – but, I think the five different fish might have been:

Calamari – definitely

Acedias – probably the whole fish on the left. This appears to have no obvious translation in English but appears to be some kind of small flatfish in the same family as Sole – perhaps a “Wedge Sole”.

Whitebait – definitely

Dogfish or Monkfish – we think that is the fish between the Whitebait and the Calamari

Hake – Maybe. This was the meaty white flaky fish second from the left

The pretty streets of Cadiz after dark.

Morning and another Spanish lesson. This is a very difficult language to learn – or maybe I’m just getting old!

After the lesson, we headed off on our bikes over to the Port of Conil for lunch at El Nautico. This is probably our favourite restaurant in the Conil area and about an eight mile walk. We took the bikes on this occasion which was much easier!

We only ate Tapas and salad for lunch as we had booked into the communal meal for the evening. This evening it was veal burger, Spanish style.

Tuesday we returned to LeRoy Merlin to buy some outdoor lengths of coloured LED strip light, complete with remote control. These didn’t quite work out as intended and were not the expected / hope for quality and a further trip to LeRoy Merlin ensued the following morning to return bits and pieces which didn’t work. Fortunately Spanish lessons had covered how to return stuff so it was all fine with one side of the conversation!

Wednesday evening we entered the Quiz night again, with Jennifer and Richard from England. A stunning performance bagged third place and we were only a couple of points off top spot. A perfect first round mind.

Thursday we took the bus to El Palmer for lunch and then walked back on the coast to Conil.

We wiled away a few hours until lunchtime watching the surfers before lunchtime.

On the walk back, we detoured past the tower which is home to some breeding pairs of the Northern Bald Ibis. We didn’t see any of the distinctive birds on this occasion but here’s a link to our last visit in Spain when they were all too visible.

Eurotrip 8, 2020 – Day 38 to 40, Walking El Palmar… – Caravan Ramblings

On this occasion there was a flock of small ground birds, probably wagtails and this chap was taking a keen interest. We think he is a Eurasian Sparrow Hawk but there is some conflicting views on this. I will leave the comment section open on this post for a while so feel free to express an opinion!

Lovely warm day on Friday with a BBQ in the evening.

Saturday we walked around Conil, and watched Rugby in the afternoon. Sunday we cycled to La Barrosa and ditto Rugby in the afternoon.

A trip to Carrefour and Leroy Merlin at San Fernando took most of Tuesday. Leroy Merlin is truly the best DIY store we’ve frequented with B&Q not even in the same league. It even puts Lowes and Home Depot in the US to shame. You can find everything there and the lighting section is amazing. I can see some rolls of remotely controlled LED strip lighting heading back across the Bay of Biscay with us…

On Wednesday we walked to the Port of Conil and enjoyed a couple of beers at Restaurante El Pastor. This is a lovely 8 mile walk and it now appears that our favourite restaurant, El Nautico – also located at the port – has just opened.

On Thursday we walked into Conil and then back to the Campsite along the beach, as is customary stopping for refreshments at “The Shack”.

Friday and Saturday were spent locally. Joe received the new awning light and spent ages figuring out how to attach it to the caravan and make it all watertight. A communal meal of Pork ribs at the campsite Friday evening – absolutely first rate. A pleasant evening view across the swimming pool.

More Spanish lessons on Saturday and then a bike ride to La Barrosa on the Sunday.

It’s about 90 days short of two years that we were last at Camping La Rosaleda in Conil-de-la-Frontera. That was the frantic end to our last visit to the continent as the plague took it’s grip in Europe and we headed home via France and the Eurotunnel.

Not knowing what to expect with the latest Omicron variant of Covid, we decided we would probably spend most of our trip at Rosaleda. With the site being well-managed and the staff helpful towards all the campers here, we felt that if anything un-toward were to happen, we would receive decent help and support.

We arrived at Conil after a 4 or 5 hour trip South from Cacares and our favourite pitch was waiting for us.

This was a good thing because any ideas we had of maybe renting a larger or double-pitch were immediately dispelled. Any thoughts that we might be one of only a handful of units to venture south were quickly dispelled as the site is close to a sell-out and certainly the busiest we have seen it.

The mix of residents has also shifted significantly. UK outfits were always a majority but not anymore – the site is probably more than half occupied by German motorhomes, with the remaining 50% split between French, Dutch, UKs and other nations.

We have been here around 10 days now and not much else has changed. There have been two communal meals and a quiz night so far, attended predominantly by Brits. We missed out on third prize in the Quiz by just a point – we’ll give it another go tomorrow!

Despite the low numbers of Brits, it’s safe to say that they are contributing a high proportion of the bar and restaurant takings. We ate at the restaurant on the second night here – the hanging kebabs as good as ever. Two years on and Ahmed, the waiter, recognises us straight away and even commented that we were occupying a different table to the one we sat at the day before the restaurant closed due to the Spanish lockdown!

The beach shack is still in business with its stunning views across the Conil beaches and onwards towards the Port.

We have managed one cycle ride so far – from Conil towards Faro De Trafalgar and then back along the surfing community of El Palmar.

The cycle track at a cost or some 3.5m Euros now runs along the entire route. It’s now complete with its splendid green surface.

Adherence to mask wearing within the campsite is less than total. Outside of the site, indoor mask wearing has total and utter compliance. Mask wearing outside is also mandatory, although we think that if social distancing is possible (such as a walk along the beach etc) then it remains optional. In town outdoor mask adherence is also very good.

A Dutch chap is also running Spanish lessons twice weekly so we have signed up… Lesson number three is on Saturday!