Cádiz, you have been so good to us
We arrived in September and it was love at first sight…...
You are a wonderful, slightly sleepy town
stunningly beautiful in many places and, when we looked more closely, we could see a little bit of shabby chic happening as well.
The colours of your ocean - so varied and so mesmerising
Your sky occasionally changes from its intense azure to being dramatically stormy, so dark and cloudy - and then a beautiful rainbow to mark the storm's end
Cádiz, we have loved walking around your perimeter, along your ancient city walls; and to your outer most reaches to be dazzled by your spectacular sunsets
Each morning we drank 'cafe con leche' at one many of your many cafes, often accompanied by our ‘second’ breakfast of bread with olive oil and tomato - too delicious to deny ourselves
We often walked along your beautiful beaches, and through your ancient narrow and cobbled streets…...
emerging from those narrow streets into one of your numerous plazas - Plaza de las Flores, Plaza de San Antonio, Plaza Candelaria, Plaza de San Francisco
Plaza de Mina, our favourite - coffee and desayuno in the springtime under the flowering jacaranda trees at our favourite cafe, Mediterráneo
Our home plaza of San Juan de Dios - where we would people watch from our corner apartment; recognising the locals - Covid, and our beginner Spanish preventing us from mixing
We were constantly awed by your colossal Cathedral…...
and loved ambling around your beautiful parks - Parque Genovés (often stopping for cafe con leche here) and the Jardines de Alameda Apodaca.
It was through you that we met
our Kiwi amigos - Lisa and Martin - and have great memories of times spent with them, including holding a fabulous dawn ANZAC service (to remember the sacrifice of New Zealand servicemen and women who lost their lives in wars) under flowering Pohutakawa trees on the seafront -
…..and our Spanish amigos, Covi and Paco - Paco to help us with our encounters with Spanish bureaucracy; English/Spanish lessons with Covi and then having them introduce us to local restaurants where we ate great Spanish food.
….and Paco the Second, with whom we walked around your streets as he told us about your 3000 year history, your art, and showed us inside some of your many, many churches
It was a real pleasure to be able to introduce you to our daughter, Olivia, who loved you as much as we do….
Becoming Spanish residents had us experience your bureaucracy through our contact with Town Hall officials, opening a bank account (where we were assisted by the fabulous Eva), and of course the Immigration officials at the 'Oficina de Extranjeria’ - an interesting experience for us to be on the other side of the Immigration counter.
Thank you Cádiz for welcoming us and
giving us such a wonderful, warm introduction to España and Spanish life. We will never forget you and it was with much sadness that we left you.
Cádiz sky
Sunsets and Ancient City Walls
Cafes for Cafe con leche, Desayuno and the occasional Cerveza in the afternoon….
Beaches, Streets and Plazas
Market and Gardens
Kiwi amigos and a dawn ANZAC service
Spanish friends and food