House coats and Capirotes

Cádiz: a tiny cobblestone island.  A 15 minute walk from one end to the other.  It’s a city with over 3,000 years of history and influences from the strongest empires from the Middle East, Europe and Africa.  It is a city so small that public transportation is restricted to taxis that only squeeze through the narrow and claustrophobic alleys.  Ancient buildings overlook the people below with tiny balconies that have just enough room for some potted plants and a tiny stool.  On the ground level, the calles are busy with shoppers going in and out of Zara, Springfield, Sfera, Blanco, and the hundreds of other clothing stores that line all of the streets.  Weaving in and out of the crowds of people, you pass a few bread shops, candy stores, Irish bars, and tapas bars.  Eventually you end up in one of the many plazas filled with palm trees, a fountain and a café or two.  Continue walking and you’ll end up at the ocean, it’s inevitable. 

It is the ideal location, unless it is a cold and rainy Sunday like today.  No one was on the streets and everyone huddled under their house-coats and watched movies all day.  Today was a relaxing day.  One big thing I did get done was booking a hotel in the center of Seville for Holy Week.  I managed to book it for 89€ for 4 days which is unbelievable since the going rate for a room is between 150€ to 300€ PER NIGHT during this hectic week.  With my train ticket it should only come to about 110€ for one of the most intense and moving scenes seen anywhere around the world.  This is the reason why I became obsessed with Spanish, and during jueves santo, Good Friday, sábado santo, and Easter I will located right at the heart of it next to La Catedral in Seville.