What can one say about one of the most densely populated cities in all of Europe. It is also one of the oldest and is definitely the oldest in Spain. But to get to hang over the edge of the roof and make the above image, I had to find my way to the top of a tall structure. During its thousands of years of existence, Cádiz has had many watch towers. I needed to climb one......
...so Amy, the ever able translator, consulted a couple of locals and had to sort out two very emphatic opinions about where to go, how to get there, and where to eat. Hands are for talking! And talking louder than the other person is even more useful.
Somehow, we managed to find everything. Of course it is hard to get lost - the city is on a narrow spit of land surrounded by the Bay of Cadiz and the Atlantic Ocean, and the tourist bureau has painted four different colored routes for tourists on the street cobblestones. It's kind of like the red brick Freedom Trail in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Just follow the line.
A quick pass through the mercado confirmed its location but we didn't linger as it was lunch time and we were headed for a vegetarian friendly restaurant where the man's (from the previous image) daughter coincidentally worked as a pastry chef.
I won't bore you with my lunch picture (it was the ubiquitous espinaca con garbonzos) but Amy enjoyed the above tempura vegetables.
She also enjoyed my new hat as she soaked up some warm rays after lunch, the Bay of Cadiz is in the background. Christopher Columbus sailed on at least two of his voyages to the New World from Cádiz and may very well have traversed this spot. I doubt the bench was here, though.
This is Columbus' bicycle.
These heads, of which there were four, are holding up a balcony - Columbus' balcony.
This is Columbus' dog and with a balcony like this one, it gives new meaning to the words, "doggy door."
It was breezy and sunny atop the tower but I loved it as usual. I almost always seek out the highest point anywhere I go.
The palette of rooftops on the white buildings almost seems planned.
High electricity rates means that rooftops in this land-starved area makes for nature's best clothes dryers.
Yep, I like being up high.
Time to head back the hour and a half drive to home in Seville. I added a texture to give this image that old time feeling - befitting a 3000 year old city teeming with the history of humanity in Europe. I used Columbus' camera for all these images, too.
Note: Some references to Columbus are untrue.
Didn't he start the Columbia Bicycle Company?
ReplyDeleteI think it was the Columbia Sportswear Company. He needed warmer and waterproof clothing on his trans-oceanic journeys. And he invented the website Columbia.com long before Al Gore even invented the internet.
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