WEDNESDAY IN CADIZ

We were up nice and early this morning--no more Lazy Lunds!  After our usual slow wake up with a cup of coffee in our room, we went down for breakfast, then headed right out for our first stop--the central market that we saw yesterday.

The market dates from the mid 1800's, but has been remodeled on the inside.  Some of the original architecture, like the columns, have been retained.

Cute artwork around the outside:

The center is all fish vendors.  The variety of fish was amazing--sure wish we had one of these at home.  It is the best fish market we've ever been to!

Scary looking fish:

Mmmmmm good!

Around the perimeter were several shops selling delicious looking sausage and cheese:

This guy has a pedal powered knife sharpening business--pretty ingenious!

After admiring all that wonderful fish and seafood, we walked back through the plaza.  There are several of these flower towers around the plaza--they are gorgeous!

We walked down to the port area, looking for the ferry ticket office.  We finally found it, after a few wrong turns.  We bought two tickets on the "fast" catamaran--across the bay to a small town of Puerto de Santa Maria.  The catamaran really wasn't fast, but it was a nice 25 minute ride across the bay.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water!

We docked in Santa Maria, and walked the pretty streets.  It's a sleepy little town, and very different from Cadiz--no tourists! Well, except for us….

Here we are in front of a fountain in a pretty park:

We came to another plaza, this one with a big church:

The entrance was quite ornate:

We spotted several stork's nest on the roof of the church:

We popped in for a quick look--we were surprised at how ornate it was.  Gothic architecture, with crystal chandeliers!

This was the most ornate chapel, with a silver altar piece:

This dome in this chapel was nicely painted:

The church has a few stained glass windows, this is the rose window:

A small side street leading from the plaza, we ate lunch at a small cafe on the corner:

David at lunch, we had a nice view of the church and plaza:

These mussels were delicious--so fresh and sweet that we ordered another plate of them!

We wandered around town, found this wine seller--we could have done a wine tasting, but had already had a glass of wine with lunch.  And it was the best wine of the trip--just the house red wine, a Rioja.

Santa Maria has a big bull ring.  This bull fighter statue is in a plaza next to the bull ring:

 The front entrance to the bull ring, with a bull statue:

We wandered back to the port area, and caught the 2:30 ferry back to Cadiz, another beautiful sunny trip across the bay.  Here we are!

We walked back to our hotel and relaxed for a few hours.  We are finding that Spanish Siesta time is messing with our schedules--we're trying to adjust!

For dinner tonight we went back to the same plaza as last night, as we had really enjoyed the fun atmosphere.  I think there were even more kids tonight!

We picked a different cafe and had a wonderful dinner.  We relaxed for an hour or so with a glass of wine, as the kitchen didn't open till 8:00--no problem!

These are albondigas de Choco--cuttlefish meatballs.   They were very good, we'd order them again:

Roasted red peppers with fresh tuna--mmmmm good!  The peppers had a wonderful smoky flavor:

After our leisurely dinner we slowly made our way back to our hotel, once again it was a nice night for a stroll.  We sure have been lucky with the weather this trip!

We are ready to leave Cadiz--it's a nice little town, but not exactly what we expected.  We have had a relaxing three days here though, which is what we wanted for a mid-trip break from hectic sightseeing.

Tomorrow we are moving on!  We have a three hour bus ride to Ronda, a small walled town up in the mountains.