We didn’t know quite what to expect in Cadiz. From the maps, it looked like a small walkable city. In addition, it was a Sunday, which meant all of the stores would be closed – no shopping for you-know-who.
What a wonderful surprise was in store for us. First of all, the weather was perfect, pleasantly cool with bright sunshine. Secondly, since it was Sunday, and the stores were closed, the narrow, winding streets were virtually free of people, cars, trucks, and scooters. Motor vehicles normally buzzing around can make walking the very narrow, cobbled streets of old cities a challenging and often unpleasant experience. Once away from the dock area, the city was as quiet and peaceful as anyone could wish. In addition, the town was quite flat, so we did not have to hike up and down hills and staircases.
We had a good time snooping into many small courtyards of apartment buildings and offices and checking out some of the quaint hotels scattered about. Luckily for Mrs. Brown, many bakeries and patisseries were open, so the day was not a total loss. She even found a place to buy some postcards where the lady gave Adele a banner saying “Cadiz - 2012” as a souvenir - it turns out that 2012 is the 200th anniversary of their constitution and they are already gearing up to celebrate.
We headed back to the ship a little sooner than we might have liked, since I was suffering a mild case of what we seasoned travelers call “intestinal issues.”
Adele’s opinion was that Cadiz was definitely the “sleeper” port of the cruise. We certainly weren’t expecting much, but we had a delightful day.