The 3rd of September was 27 years after our wedding. We decided to spend the day in Cadiz, about 5 miles across the bay from Rota where we are moored. The ferry goes from the end of the jetty about 50 meters from our berth so we caught the 8.30am trip across. The trip takes about 40 minutes out past the American naval base and round into Cadiz. We were a bit worried when we saw two huge cruise ships (Queen Elizabeth and Aurora) in port but it didn’t affect our day, despite being small enough to walk around, Cadiz absorbed the crowds. Looking at the marina in Cadiz from the ferry it is clear that it’s a fair walk into town from there and as the ferry stops pretty much in the heart of things we felt we made the right call.
Cadiz is a lovely town. It has seen much more maintenance and care than other Spanish towns we have visited and the streets are clean and lacking the potholes and missing slabs we have got used to. They have organised well for visitors with a number of different marked walks you can follow around the main attractions and the squares and buildings are attractive and there are lots of trees to help the narrow streets provide shade.
Wandering around the town is a great way to spend the day, both walking the coastal roads or through the narrow winding ways of the inner city. We had a coffee in the main square and spent the morning in the centre covering a number of historical and cultural sights, particularly enjoying the Roman/Phoenician exhibits in the Museum of Cadiz and climbing the Tavira Tower the official watchtower of Cadiz for the sights from the top. This also has a ‘camera obscura’, the first time we have seen one of these old entertainment/viewing devices. This tower was one of 160 original watch towers manned by the merchant groups to spot their ships coming over the horizon. There are still 126 of them in differing styles parading across the Cadiz skyline.
We then walked out around the coast for a while, through the botanical gardens – now we know what a Dragon Tree looks like, not that we could see why it got the name, until we found a street with recommended restaurants for lunch. We chose one at random, having decided the original target only had seating inside and was too stuffy for a lunch in shorts! We spent an hour or so relaxing in the shade with the odd glass of Rioja. We had a huge plate of fried fish, cuttlefish, baby squid, peppers, small shrimp patties etc. We couldn’t eat it all!
In the afternoon we did the rest of the coastal walk taking in the Castillo de San Sebastian with the view around the bay and across to Rota.
We were a bit tired by the time the 6.25pm ferry left for the return trip, but had really enjoyed our day and would recommend Cadiz as a great place to visit, for a day as we did, or a long weekend. There are also plenty of beaches if that’s your thing. Cadiz score 9/10!!!

On our return we managed a few connections via Skype to those at home courtesy of the ferry wifi. It’s very useful to be berthed at this end of the marina!
We spent the evening sitting in the cockpit with a plate of ham, cheeses, smoked salmon, sausage, bread etc as the photo shows you. Oh, and a glass or two of Rioja. We had a great day and slept very well!

Yesterday was work mode as we had to change the oil and filters in both the engines which took most of the day, once going to get the new oil and disposing of the old oil in the proper place is accounted for. Washing was done as well as some shopping as we plan to head for an anchorage about 5 miles away for a few days on the hook. Marinas around here are all run by the same group and they all charge us just under E55 per night so it gets too expensive to sit in the port.
Today it’s a last round of oil checks after its all settled overnight, a fill up of the water tank and Chris’s hair is to be subjected to Carolyn’s newly acquired shearing device (she swears it wasn’t meant for sheep but I’m not convinced). We will head for the anchorage by Porto Sherry after using the free ferry wifi to post this!