We began our day in Cadiz with a quick brekky. Jessie and I have been enjoying the congee
onboard and we get it loaded up with tofu, chicken, beef, onions, garlic,
seaweed, and mushrooms. Hildy is a huge
fan of the pickled herring onboard. She
eats it every morning with pumpernickel bread and a slice of cheese. She says she’ll never get bored of it. (For someone who dislikes fish, she loves her
herring!)
Once we left the ship, we emerged outside. Similar to the day before, it was cool, but
later on in the day the sun did come out.
We began with the Constitution Monument of 1812; it was a
monument which represents a large Spanish Parliament flanked by allegories to
war and the fruits of peace, whilst the Constitutional Text is placed upon a
high pillar, with Justice situated at its base.
Our intent was to move from there to the cathedral, but we
took a wrong turn and ended up at the port side where we found high walled Promenades
that looked out onto the ocean. Beside
them were beautiful gardens situated on stunning porcelain tiles.
The Promenade was decorated with stunning fountains,
magnificent trees and an assortment of flowers.
Combined with the porcelain tiles, it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.
As we continued walking along the Promenade, we eventually
came to the Botanical Gardens. These
were filled with whimsical hedges, plenty of benches and an assortment of
plants. The best parts of these Botanical
Gardens however, were the cats. There
were so many! Hildy was slightly
outraged by the number around us (perhaps 20) but many were small black cats,
and reminded us all of Dilly… how we missed him! Jessie thought it would be apt to rename the
gardens DillyBear Park. Jessie couldn’t
resist the temptation, and bent down to play with an affectionate little black
cat. Within no time, more were around
her investigating.
Another interesting aspect of the Botanical Gardens were the
random dinosaurs displaced within. We weren’t sure why they were there, but we
managed to get Hildy to pose with a T-Rex, so that was good fun!
Following the gardens, we arrived at the beach. By this point, I was in desperate need of a
bathroom and there were no public ones in sight, so we decided to sit down at a
nearby café. Here we ordered some
delicious coffee with hot, frothy milk and checked our email. It was a pleasant way to spend some time in
the early afternoon… people watching at the beach right in front of us.
As we continued along our way, we found a local shoe store
and Jessie and I both treated ourselves to a new pair of shoes. We’re surprised by the cheap prices on
footwear here. I bought a pair of nice,
leather wedges for only 15 Euros… who can say no to that?!
After the shoe store, we made our way to another
church. This one had its interior
covered in gold. It was stunning. The name of the church was the San Lorenzo
Martir and I believe it was built in 1725.
We soon arrived at the covered market which was the oldest
marketplace in Spain. It had a
neoclassical look with columns surrounding exterior walls, which framed all the
stalls inside. There were many different
types of stalls selling meat, produce, fish, wine and cheese. Many locals were there doing their local
daily shopping. We tried a wine and
cheese sampler which was very good! This
was Jessie’s favourite type of pick-me-up.
Hildy wasn’t too thrilled with either the wine or cheese and decided
that she’d rather try some sausage. I
took her to various vendors who sold sausages and raw meat, but I think she was
worried about getting sick because she didn’t want to commit to trying anything
from any stall we came across.
We later walked through flower market… Hildy was in paradise
and then perused some of the shops. We
located a charming bakery and went inside to buy some treats. We took our baked goodies to the steps of the
cathedral and sat down and ate our pastries there. They were delicious, but Hildy couldn’t
resist sharing hers with the pigeons… soon we had nearly 50 pigeons surrounding
us!!
Finishing our treats, we entered the Holy and Apostolic
Cathedral of Cadiz, built in 1722. The
interior was magnificent and features a broad, complex apse-aisle where
triangular and square vaults have been used, together with some sixteen chapels
divided up into the side naves.
The chapel took 116 years to complete and the various tastes
of the architects were clearly seen. The
cathedral began in baroque style, seen by the ground plan and the
interior. However it was finished in
Neoclassical style, seen by its façade, towers, domes and the second part of
the interior, as well as most of the alter pieces and the high alter.
Through some research, I learned that the 16 chapels are as
follows:
1.
The Chapel of St. Peter
2.
The Chapel of the Virgin of the Assumption
3.
The Chapel of St. Sebastian
4.
The Chapel of St Thomas of Villaneuva
5.
The Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel
6.
The Chapel of Brother Diego Jose de Cadiz
7.
The Chapel of St Benedict
8.
The Chapel of San Servando
9.
The Chapel of San German
10.
The Chapel of St. Theresa
11.
The Chapel of the Sacrarium
12.
The Chapel of St. Joseph
13.
The Chapel of San Juan Bautista de La Salle
14.
The Chapel of the “Corazon de Jesus”
15.
The Chapel of the Adoration of the Kings
16.
The Chapel of St. Paul
Inside the cathedral is also a crypt which was built between
1722 and 1730. This was made out of
“oyster stone” (A local stone excavated from the sea). The world famous Manuel de Falla and the
poet, Joes Maria Peman have their remains still in the crypt.
Following the crypt, we saw gold and gems from the ‘new
world’ (South America) which had been brought back to create new religious
relics and treasures. This concluded our
self guided tour of the cathedral and we exited the building in awe.
Following the Cathedral, we attempted more shopping however
this was not a success because Hildy does not share the same enthusiasm for
shopping and I think she was worn out from the day already. Needless to say we arrived at the ship 1 ½
hours early because we couldn’t risk being late!
We all had some ‘alone time’ on board and did our own
thing. Later we met in the room before
dinner to look through some pictures and share a bottle of wine. It didn’t take much before Hildy thought she
was drunk. She was angry with me for
giving her too much wine but it was quite funny to see her wobbling around the
stateroom. (In reality, she had less
than one glass, so I don’t think it’s possible for her to be drunk).
We proceeded to have a nice dinner, then came back to the
room and rented Freedom Writers. All in all, it was a nice day.
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