Cádiz

The Jerez Railway Station, from where I took the train, is an architectural gem. The red ochre façade with its three large entrances linked by arches and flanked by pilasters (square columns set into the wall) resembles a Moorish fort. Cádiz is another beautiful Andalusian city and the oldest one in Europe as Historians date it back to the arrival of Phoenician traders in 800 BC. I am staying in a very nice old style apartment, which has a lovely marble staircase, and is quite close  to the City Centre. Cádiz is surrounded almost entirely with water so I began my visit here with a walk past the battered, crenellated sea walls of its coastal promenade along the Bay of Cadiz. I passed through the Park of Genovés, an 18th century botanical garden with one hundred different varieties of trees and shrubs. I didn't see any trees from Australia, but New Zealand was represented with a lovely Iron Heart Tree. There are two defensive forts on each side of the Bay, the 1672 Baluarte de la Candelaria and the Castillo de Santa Caterina. The Castillo has a moat which regulated the water level for the sluice sea entry gate. Further on was the Playa de la Caleta,  Cadiz's crowded postage stamp sized beach. From there I went for a look at Cadiz's gorgeous yellow-domed 18th century Cathedral, a beautifully proportioned basilica built in a Baroque neoclassical style. I climbed to the top of its tower, the Torre de Poniente, for some marvellous vistas of Cádiz. While I was up there the Cathedral's six giant bells chimed the hour. Cádiz is famous for its seafood so in the evening I headed to the Calle Virgen de la Palma in the Viña Barrio for a superb meal of dorado at a restaurant recommended by Ignacio, my host.