Cádiz...spontaneously

Cádiz

Like most days and nights in Sevilla, this weekend was full of surprises. On Friday afternoon and evening, a group of us planned an impromptu trip to Cádiz! One of my friends was going there to see an MTV concert, and we decided to tag along and go explore a new city. One of my friends offered to drive us, which was great, and we headed off on Sunday morning with no real plans and no place to stay the night. This was a challenge for me because I am not incredibly spontaneous, but I figured I would find somewhere to crash (and, of course, I'd written a list of hostels in the city). We had a fun time in the car and it was an easy 1.5 hour drive. When we got there, we squeezed Arely into the car and headed to the beach. But when I saw the enormous cathedral and plaza, I decided that I did not need another day at the beach and would rather explore the city. In a split-second decision, Rebecca and I got out of the car, left our overnight stuff in the trunk, and wandered off while everyone else drove to the beach. In hindsight, this was just like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book because, had we stayed in the car, our night would have been completely different. Our friends went off to the concert in a nearby town soon after we parted ways, but Rebecca and I had a lovely time in the city center of Cadiz.

Central Market

We wandered around for a while, going into all the appealing stores (but I only bought one cute scarf that makes me feel more Spanish), and then decided to have some lunch. Most places we tried were closed for siesta, but we found a tapas bar by the cathedral where I got scrambled eggs with chorizo and we shared some sardine-drenched bruschetta. After making the decision to stay the night here, we went in search of a hostel. Rebecca had a strange but correct premonition that there was wifi in one certain spot of the plaza by a pizza sign, so we looked up the address of a well-reviewed hostel. We found it without much trouble and booked a night there for 17 euros. Then we went to meet Chelsea and Toby to get our stuff from their car and bid them adieu on their trip home. After a photo shoot and dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we went in search of a beach. We found one called La Caleta that was pretty small and quaint, but it is apparently the main beach. I expected a bit more out of Cadiz's beaches, but there was no denying that it was pretty. We chilled for a while on a ledge and watched the sun go down. Pretty much everything Rebecca and I do seems incredibly romantic, so we need to find some hombres to share these places with too. Then we found a huge and interesting tree, so we did another photo shoot and headed to the hostel for a brief nap. My social nature kicked in and we climbed the endless stairs to the terrace to make some friends. I said, "Hello," to a group of three guys, and they said, "Hola," back so I started speaking to them in Spanish. Eventually they said, "Hablas inglés?" I said,  "Obviously!" and it turned out they were all from America and doing the same program as me in Jerez. Whoops. So Rebecca and I hung out with them for a few hours on the terrace and met their other friends who had gone to the MTV concert. When the terrace closed, we headed out in search of a bar or discoteca, but it was futile with a large group of people and we ended up on a giant freezing rooftop with a bunch of judgmental Spaniards. It was fun meeting these new people, but it eventually got too cold and we checked out the discotecas downstairs on our own. We walked into one place that was completely empty...apparently 1:30 is too early for anyone to be in a club in Spain. But we were very tired, so we got some delicious empanadas and cookies at a corner store and headed back for a decent night's sleep. 

In the morning, we had breakfast (actually, white bread with jelly) provided by the hostel and caught up with our new friends on their night. After checking out, I went on a walking tour with the hostel and Rebecca headed off to see some sights and a museum. The walking tour was alright and had some interesting stories about the city. It is sad but I feel like I can get around Cadiz better than Sevilla at this point because the city is so small. It makes me appreciate being a city large enough that I still have a ton to explore after being here for a month (I know...it's been a month!!). Rebecca and I met back up and headed to the "beach," which apparently means we were going to eat. On the way there, Rebecca showed me a street filled with Rodin sculptures, including The Thinker. That was pretty darn sweet! We got the menú deal and enjoyed amazing paella and too oily tuna. But I am glad I had seafood in Cadiz because that is part of its claim to fame. It turned into a very long meal, and we missed our chance to go to the beach and still catch the 5:00 bus home, so we collected our backpacks and went to the bus station. We found Arely and Reegis on the bus and heard about their adventures at the concert and beach today. It was great seeing our friends again...it was too bad we did completely opposite things while in Cadiz, but both groups of people had a great time, so it is all good. It is good to be back in Sevilla. I am looking forward to a lot of sleep tonight and running a lot of errands tomorrow. Now I am excited to plan more trips and keep up this whole traveling around Spain and Europe thing!

"The Thinker"