Today we finally made it to Cadíz. Buying the bus tickets and finding the station ahead of time were definitely smart moves, and Corinne and I met our friends Emily and Colleen at the bus station this morning around 9. We were slightly dismayed to find out that there was an anime convention in Cadíz this particular Saturday, and our assigned seats were already taken by a group of teenage boys dressed in costumes. It took a little bit, but we reluctantly took seats that left us split up around the bus. Corinne and I ended up sitting in the front half of the bus, which was full of the anime lovers, and Emily and Colleen had more typical seat partners.
I had been hoping to sleep on the bus, but ended up overhearing some pretty unique conversations for the whole ride instead. When we got there, Corinne and I accidentally got off at the stop that was made especially for the convention because it seemed to us that everyone was getting off there. Once the dressed up teens dispersed, we found ourselves on the outside edge of Cadíz, and a nice woman told us we would want to take the city bus into the center because it was a long walk. I was not surprised that we made such a mistake, and we were grateful to spot the actual bus station during our ride on the city bus, so we ended up getting off and meeting Emily and Colleen there.
By the time we arrived at the bus station, I was more than ready for a cup of coffee, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the coffee I bought at the bus station café was some of the best coffee I’ve had since being here…I guess that café is one of Spain’s best hidden jewels. Anyway, we quickly made our way to a tourist office for some maps. Corinne and I pulled out the list of places our literature professor recommended seeing in Cadíz and used that to plan our day. We visited the Plaza de Espana, the city’s most famous watchtower, their infamously huge market, a quaint neighborhood, the beach, and finally an island castle, which was regrettably under construction.
In all, it was a very busy, fun day. We went camera crazy, partially because I was so excited to use my camera for the first time, and partially because it was just fun. The Plaza de Espana in Cadíz was much less impressive than the one here in Sevilla, but we had fun taking pictures there, and I tried to climb a tree in the plaza, which was not exactly my best idea ever. There was a really strong wind that blew all day, an unfortunate reality for the three of us wearing skirts, so we decided no to swim at the beach. At the watchtower, we got a “tour” of the city via a large periscope which projected mirror-images of the city in real time onto a big screen while a guide explained it all to us. It was a really cool system, and I loved getting a tour like that for the first time ever!
On our way to see the castle, which is built on a little island connected to the city by an incredible bridge, we passed through a fun neighborhood full of shops and restaurants. We enjoyed treats from a little pastry shop and looked in a couple shops along the way. The bridge to the castle has a really pretty beach on one side of it, and on the other side rocks form tide pools. It was a captivating scene, and we spent a few hours marveling at the ocean and rocky shores while taking lots of pictures. When we were finally ready to leave the beach, we hiked across the bridge to the castle only to find out that it was closed. Rosa was not surprised to hear this, but we were slightly disappointed when we found out. There were lots of tourists walking up to the door and turning around in dismay, and we made friends with an Australian backpacker who was checking out the castle at the same time as us. We had fun learning about his adventures, took a picture with him, and then made our way to a little restaurant for something to drink.
The café we ended up stopping at was apparently the worst place in town we could have chosen. Our waitress was not exactly thrilled that we only wanted drinks, and we quickly enjoyed our sodas and hit the road. Like I said earlier, we had hoped to swim at the beach, but the wind was much too strong for that, so we ended up making our way to a park to relax and finish off the lunches our host moms packed for us. The park we encountered was really cool and really weird. There were dinosaur statues throughout the whole park and a fake waterfall with a cave under it and bridge over it. There was also a strange South American tree with pointy bark planted in the middle of the park. We again had lots of fun taking pictures before finding a shady spot to rest and eat before making our way back to the bus.
We were relieved to arrive at the bus stop before the people coming from the anime convention, so we got to sit together on the ride back to Sevilla, and Corinne and I talked the whole way home. Once we got back to Sevilla, it was about 9:00, and we were exhausted, so we decided to take the Metro back to our apartment. Rosa met us with enthusiasm to hear about our day and quickly made us dinner, which we devoured. After dinner, we spent quite a while sorting through and posting pictures (check out FB for some of the good ones!), and finally, with much happiness and exhaustion, went to sleep.
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