Category: Portugal/Spain, Fall 2018

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?

We were pretty run down after walking about 8 miles a day for 2 days, so we hit two smaller museums in the afternoon.  First was the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativa, which was mostly a museum of historic household items, like furniture, plates, silverware, and other odds and ends.  I took one photo of a really cool piece of china because I thought my friend Fred Daniels would appreciate it.  It’s from a producer called Herend.

We also hit the Spanish Naval Museum, but unfortunately the bulk of the museum was closed for refurbishment, one of the downsides of visiting in the off-season.  We had extra time to kill since dinner wasn’t until the restaurant first opened….at 8:30 (I have no idea how this tradition started in Spain)

Since we had some extra time we took a walk around and this building, the former Communications Center for Madrid, was open, so we said “let’s check it out”.  There was some interesting history on the first floor, and then we went upstairs.  This is where it appears LSD made it’s second appearance of the day.

If you make it through the first 3 sentences you beat me.

I think this might be a place you take your significant other to break up?

So deep!  So provocative!

Then there is a video screen, and trashy looking bean bag chairs and burlap sacks filled with god knows what to sit on….on the floor….in front of these screens.  It looked like a homeless encampment.  I presume the video they were showing was meant to ensure nobody stayed seated on these pieces of trash for very long.  Here is a snippet.  Keep in mind the item speaking is a large pink piece of plastic water pipe.  What that has to do with anything I don’t know.

Wow….that’s more confusing than Westworld!

Dan had to go pick his laundry, which he had to do in Madrid since they were about to embark on a cruise where it cost $3 just to wash a pair of socks.  Kim, Kathy and I decided to check out this little bar they have on top of the building, and here is a nice shot of the city at night.

The bar area.  Pretty nice spot….if it wasn’t for all of the damn smokers!

We had lunch at a really good restaurant called Alabaster, right across the street from the Artes Decorativa.  It was SOO good that we booked a reservation for dinner.  They ended up putting us in a private room, and the dinner was just as good as the lunch.  A really excellent restaurant, just a little on the pricey side, but it was Thanksgiving!  Here is a shot as we were leaving.  What is the deal with all of these men in suits having dinner together….with no women…..at 9:30 at night…and they just sat down!

There is a group of women at the table in the back, but that was only women. It was like a middle school dance in the 1970’s!