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| Cadiz |
Sometimes, you can also get in to some really interesting conversations; we did so here, albeit slowly, because our host Helena didn't speak much English, so a lot of the time we spoke in our rather stilted Spanish.
Helena is a lawyer by profession, but was unemployed at the time, in common with so many people in Cadiz. She was telling us about the youth unemployment rate being close to fifty percent and that many people were in real financial difficulty.
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| Cadiz |
We asked her about a demonstration that we had seen outside a bank in town, and she explained that it was protesting about the ease with which the banks were repossessing peoples' homes. It has become a very big problem here and other parts of Spain.
Helena explained that she, and many Spaniards, were very envious of the UK's position in Europe, being part of the EU but not the Euro - but as I am writing this post the referendum, perhaps the less said about that the better!
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| Cadiz |
It was clear then, that Cadiz is a troubled city. It has little opportunity to expand physically, because geographically it is on a spur of land that reaches out into the ocean, and between that and the unemployment rate, many young people are leaving to find work elsewhere.
This, of course, creates a downward spiral, which it is difficult to escape from; I do hope that they manage to improve the situation here. The statistics suggest that it is looking slightly better over the last year, but progress is certainly slow.
This, of course, creates a downward spiral, which it is difficult to escape from; I do hope that they manage to improve the situation here. The statistics suggest that it is looking slightly better over the last year, but progress is certainly slow.
All of which might explain why we felt that the city lacked something in atmosphere and vibrancy. It was a nice place, with some lovely old architecture, but in the main it often seemed a little closed - sometimes quite literally in the case of restaurants or shops.
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| Cadiz Cathedral |
That said, we quite enjoyed wandering around the maze of old windy streets - we got our bearings eventually - and along the seafront.
There is a bit of ancient city wall to walk along, and if you feel so inclined, the 18th century Tavira watchtower has great views and a camera obscura at the top.
The Cathedral is a bit of a hybrid of styles, but is a most imposing building, especially as the old town is generally very low-rise.
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| Cadiz |
Talking of seafood, there was a festival of some sort going on at times here - perhaps a precursor to the Carnival that was due shortly after we left. There was live music, which we though was a competition of some sort, and on one day, people were thronging around La Caleta Beach, between the two old castles, and one of the main activities seemed to be the opening and eating of sea urchins.
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| Cadiz |
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| Cadiz |
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| Cadiz |
Talking of bars, we did find a nice little music bar - I think it was called El Pelicano - where they had a great flamenco act on. Not the touristy, dressed up and dancing style, just two guys and a guitar.
Oh, and as a last point on Cadiz, when reading up on it, I happened to notice which cities worldwide it is twinned with. And it generally has some pretty good places that it has been linked to - Montevideo in Uruguay, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Cartagena in Colombia, Tangiers in Morocco and Havana in Cuba. The UK has given it Medway; I'm not going to say anything else about that, I'll just leave that for you.
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