Today Peg and Jim visited me from Rhode Island I got to show off my city! At around 1 o'clock I met up with them near the bay, took them through the town hall plaza and up to la Plaza de las Flores...a plaza filled with, as you would guess, beautiful flowers and flower shops. Next to the plaza is the open-air market filled with fruits, vegetables, ham that costs $25 a pound, and all different types of seafood: snails, squid, chocos, huge tunas, swordfish, fluke, sea urchin, etc. This of course was a prelude to the wonderful lunch we were about to eat.
In the same plaza is "las flores" which is from what I've been hearing; the best seafood place in Cádiz. We got the surtido de pescaito frito which was 2.2 pounds of fried seafood goodness. It came with whole fried shrimp, whiting, dogfish, fried sardines, chocos, and "huevas". I put "huevas" in quotes because in the beginning we had no idea what it was. We saw it in the market and it looked like a sack of some type. When it showed up on our plate (deep fried) it looked like a fried ball of couscous or those tiny bits of shaved styrofoam balls that stick everywhere. After a quick dictionary look up we found out it was a sack of hundreds of tiny fish eggs....I had two of these sacks.
We wiped out our plate and headed over to the Cathedral. I acted like a tour guide and pointed out a whole bunch of things that a quick glance would miss and then I took them down into the crypt of the cathedral. This isn't any regular crypt though, aside from the dead bodies this one is wide open with a room formed in a way that causes the voice to echo 15 times. It makes it seem like those overemphasized echoes of people underwater (which is ironic since the crypt is actually below sea level).
From the Cathedral we walked up to my house and to the Plaza San Antonio (my plaza) and told them about some local myths and my experiences so far in the city. It's hard not to love San Antonio so it made me more proud showing off my house and neighborhood. We walked less then 10 minutes to my school (I gave them a quick tour) and then headed to the "Jurassic Park" of the city.
This tropical garden is tucked away next to the ocean and is filled with dinosaurs and a waterfall. A little oasis in a bustling city and away from all of the pre-carnaval construction. We went under the waterfall and around the park and ended up at La Caleta (the famous beach here). We stopped for a quick drink, got a little tanner from the intense afternoon sun and then headed over to the sea-walk to take some final pictures and to see the most beautiful backdrop of Cádiz.
We walked along the edge of the city and made it back to the Cathedral where I showed them some ancient Roman ruins, some Roman roads, and a quick bathroom break/quick look at the Museum. It was the perfectly spaced out 5-6 hour walking tour of the city! Of course I skipped over some important parts like la Viña, la Plaza de España, Plaza de Minas, etc, but for a day-trip I think this was more than sufficient. I had a lot of fun showing off my city and having someone appreciate what I was showing off. Today was a wonderful day.
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