We jumped on the high speed train out of Madrid and left the rain behind as we headed south towards Cadiz. Did I mention how much we love the trains in Europe? Fast, clean, quiet…everything BART isn’t.
After checking into our hotel we took a walk along the roadway above the beach to the old part of town. Such a beautiful sight after spending 3 days in the big city.
We were heading to a restaurant (dosbocados) on the advice of Trip Advisor, only to find out its a booth in a market. Regardless, the grilled tuna sandwiches were everything they claimed to be!
The market is really cool. There are about 100 booths overall serving tapas of all types, as well as fresh fruits, meat and fish. Everything is super cheap….way better than Madrid!
After lunch we took a walk out to Castillo San Sebastian via a walkway built right on top of a reef. The castle was closed, but the walkway was still very cool as there were waves crashing over both sides occasionally, so you had to make sure you timed it in certain sections if you didn’t want to get soaked.
There was some blowholes in parts of the reef nearest the castle gates.
A panoramic look back towards Cadiz.
Me contemplating the wave action. I could have sat here for an hour if I had a bottle of wine.
Lastly, a view from our hotel room at sunset. We have one building between us and the ocean, and it appears to be low rent housing, but what a view they must have on the other side!
We went to a restaurant that Trip Advisor rates as #41 out of 667 restaurants in Cadiz (El Faro de Cadiz). It was terrible. Who is rating this place so highly? The waiter we had was gruff and pissed off that we walked in to ruin his day. I asked about the specials, and he handed us a menu in Spanish and said the specials were only in Spanish. He was not there to help. It was obvious from his other interactions that his attitude was mostly due to the fact we were non-Spanish speaking tourists. We likely should have walked out, but hey, they are #41, the food must be good!
Nope. The fish Kim had was bland, and the Paella I had was just a big mistake. The rice was boring, and the seafood was overcooked. We had better Paella for 2 euros at the Mercado.
I have always trusted Trip Advisor, but it’s accuracy is lacking on this trip.
If you ever come to Cadiz, the bus system is simple easy! You can buy a bus pass at every Tabac shop for 7 euros, and that gives you 10 rides. After walking around town the first day, the bus is a welcome ride home. Just don’t ride the bus the wrong direction to “sight see”, as you will have to pay again to go back (we found out the hard way). I presume this is to keep the homeless off?