Adios Andelucia

If you're joining us here, please click on March under the 2014 link on the right to start at the beginning of this ride. This blogger thing goes from the bottom up, oldest posts to newer.

So. What did you like best?  Cadiz, the oldest, continuously inhabited city in Europe?
Seville with it's bullring, Cathedral and Giraldo tower, Alcazar Palace and gardens, Flamenco shows, Plaza de Hispana, horses and the Guadalquiver river?
Did you enjoy seeing the tulips in Leiden before they were all harvested?

I'm still enjoying a Spanish tan, and of course the pictures are uploading fine on my new tablet now. Still a problem getting the pictures from the tablet to a PC or cloud. And there's the whole regular SD chip versus mini SD chip. I have hope again that there is a converter for Android.

For now I am content to have gotten pictures to share with you on this ride.
I am hoping you too can savor the cawing of small, green parrots in the trees of Cadiz and Sevilla, the call of seagulls over North Sea waves and the rumbling slapping at massive sea walls. I hope you too are pondering civilizations long before America...actually right around the time Columbus got the funding to sail from Isabella. And before that (how did those Phoenicians get to Cadiz?) And what about those Mudajar sciences and universities and paved streets with lighting and arts and spices and foods and plants and narrow streets to beat the heat and paradisio patio gardens. For 700 years; burned into the culture that is Andelucia.

I leave you with parting shots ...

Cadiz, Spain

Cadiz

After leaving Seville it was an hour and 40 minutes train ride to Cadiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe.  This city is on the end of a narrow peninsula and it is a joy to see ocean out the windows of both sides of the train. Arriving at the end of the line, the Santa Justa station, we walk out into very bright sunlight. I see palm trees and a large white building. .which turns out to be a cruise ship.  Amazing what humans can build,  so strong and massive.

 We pick up a map at the info station a few blocks ahead and after checking in at the Patagonia hotel we discover another strong, massive accomplishment of mankind... the sea wall built to protect the city from invasion  - of which there had been many - Carthaginians,  Romans, Dutch,  and two Punic wars.

We walked the massive sea walls which are great to lean on and look over mesmerized by the pounding waves or, like the locals, fish for dinner.

One of the coolest things to check out is "The Bishop's House" (Casa del Obisbo). It is an important archeological dig with the different cultures stacked on top of each other.

Originally it was a Phoenician "healing hut" the location chosen for its healing powers and spring waters. Then it became a place with  healing baths, the ill were encouraged to dream of Apollo's healing cures, Eventually the baths were filled in because the Christians believed bathing was too tempting.

It gives you a sense of vertigo, because you are walking on a glass floor looking down into the dig.. The deepest pillar is identified by its construction process.

One of my favorite places to discover is the Ruins of Fort Santa Catalina. Right now it houses a wonderful little exhibit of poetry and fantastic artwork on the inter-connectedness and fragility of our ecosystems. There was no signature and the artists' names were not provided, sorry for the lack of attribution.

Cadiz also offers a wonderful place to stroll and admire gardens and topiaries in wonderful Park Genoves.

And going to the beach is always a good thing (accidentally saw a little topless action. Not posting any pix)

There's lots more to see, but leaving Cadiz we stopped in the Town Hall Plaza that night and enjoyed an adios from the historic Adalucian music and fountain's dance. Here's the Town Hall (Plaza de San Juan de Dios.)

Plaza de Hispana and Parque de Maria Luisa

Sorry folks, but pix will come later...
Remember, we're reading bottom (oldest) up, not top (newest) down.

It was well worth another #3 bus trip back into the old town to walk through Parque de Maria Louisa to see the expansive Plaza de Hispana.

 Spain is big on gardens and I suspect this is partly the influence of the Moors - who  also brought the "paradisios" (walled gardens) concept that fill the welcoming patios of homes with flowers and trees, ponds and colorful  tile work.  Here are a couple of paradisios.

 Imagine walking along street-wide paths lined with heavily laden orange trees. The trees are so aromatic you become thirsty. Occasionally the path is shared by horse drawn carriages... horses with high-arched necks and show-worthy gaits.  You spot a pond with attractive ducks and notice the  arbors  covered in violet bougainvillea.  Just then a flock of white doves fly across the pond and swoop up into the branches of a tree that looks like a huge magnolia tree, but it has, instead of a trunk, multiple tremendous bulbous roots. You rest on a bench covered in blue and yellow tiles, the most beautiful you have ever seen,  to feed the ducks (and golden fish) the crust of the pizza you saved for this very purpose.  To spread your happiness around, you share the crust with the beautiful little girl next to you, who smiles up at you and says, "gracias!"
Preparing to continue your stroll, you take out your souvenir fan because this is Spain and it is hot.

It is just a few steps and you come upon a spectacular view,  the Plaza de Espania, which is in a semicircular layout. Tourists and locals have brought their kids here to be treated to ice cream, four-wheeled bike rentals and generally to run around the huge tiled expanse, which includes a circular river (where you can rent row boats)  and a bridge of blue tiles.

Eventually you come to the grand steps but first admire the history of Spain depicted in, you guessed it, gorgeous tile work.  Climb the tiled steps for the view and witness tall walls of gold and irredescent and intricate tile patterns. Take pictures, hoping they can capture the beauty.