Cadiz

What I do remember is that back in 1980 we were on holiday with the Holts in Estepona on the Costa del Sol. Our close friends Mike and Maggie O’Connell, who were then still living in England, were on holiday at the same time in a hotel in or near Cadiz. It was agreed that at some point we would meet for lunch halfway between the two places. I asked our Rep in Estepona for the name of a small town halfway and he said San Roque would be suitable.

Using a public call box I rang Mike and told him what the Rep had suggested. It was agreed that we would meet in the first bar he arrived at on his side of this place San Roque. So on the appointed day we set off in a hire car and after about 20 minutes I saw a sign marked San Roque. I anticipated half way would have been about 2 hours away. Indeed we were soon in San Roque and Mike and Maggie arrived at the little bar soon afterwards. They had had a 3 hour journey over the mountains and we had taken just 30 minutes. The O’Connells were not impressed! Perhaps that’s why they emigrated to the USA a few years later!

But as usual I have digressed. We had decided that we would tour Cadiz by taxi if we could find a linguist. And we did – Carlos was his name.

He owned his car, had a beautiful wife and a four month old son. Before we set off on the tour, he had shown us a video of wife and son on his mobile. He clearly loved his home town of Cadiz and was keen that we should love it too.

We started with the 1812 Memorial

and ended with the the Cathedral

and in between we visited the beautiful parks with magnificent topiary and a wide variety of trees and bushes.

We drove out to the Castillo de San Sebastián, built to protect the northern side of the city, and from there the beaches seemed to stretch to the horizon.

After leaving Carlos we explored the side streets close to the harbour

and managed to avoid the bargains in the shoe shops. But Barcelona has a much wider choice tomorrow.

Aurora was in port with us, so Cadiz had more than its fair share of Brits for the day.

In the evening, following dinner, we were entertained by the Spinettes. This was their second performance and featured songs from the fifties and sixties.