Cádiz to visit Theresa! nov 5-6

This past weekend I went to Cadiz to visit Theresa. She is a really really good friend from high school and we have known each other since 5th grade when we started orchestra together. We have definitely been orchestra buddies throughout the years. We had talked about visiting each other because we would both be studying in Spain at the same time and I'm so glad that we made it work!

I decided to take the 8 hour bus there and back instead of the 5 hour train because it was a lot cheaper. 32 euros instead of 150. They have busses that leave at midnight and get in at 8 am so that is what I decided to do and luckily was able to sleep the whole way on both. There were some stops before Cadiz and I accidentally got off in Jerez because I couldn't understand the accent of the guy next to me (it is a lot stronger in southern Spain) but asked the bus driver right before he left and luckily got back on just in time.

Cadiz is sort of just a point that sicks out really far into the water and the town is on the bulb on the tip. The hostel wasn't ready for me when I got there that early and Theresa had class until 2, so I found a really pretty park and sat there doing homework for many hours. That was really good though because I had a lot of reading to do for my anthropology class and had to read it a lot more closely because it is my turn to present in class next time.

I wandered around in small city just a little bit to take a break and ate my lunch while waiting for Theresa. It is a very cute place and quite small. Almost all of the streets are pedestrian only because it is so old and the few streets (except for the main ones that only go through parts on the sides) that can have cars are only wide enough for one and don't have many. I can easily see why Theresa loves it so much and doesn't want to leave, it just feels so comfortable and welcoming with an old world charm.

There are lights in Christmas shapes hanging above most of the streets now too but I've only seen them turned on during the night on one street. When I finally met up with Theresa around 4 (she had to go home for lunch) after checking into my hostel we just wandered around in the streets talking and catching up. We stopped by the giant cathedral in the middle of the old part and saw some other very pretty churches. There are a lot of them here. She says about 30. We saw some of her friends from the UW program and then headed to the beach. Cadiz is definitely a vacation place for people in Spain and Europe because it is so far south and stays warm a lot longer.

We just hung out there talking for a long time and watched the sun set over the ocean. This may be the first time that I've seen the sun set over the Atlantic and it took me a while to realize that since I've always seen it over the Pacific.

Then it was starting to get cold so we headed back into town and got churros and chocolate. Theresa has been here for almost as long as I have, but hadn't had them yet! Well, I've only had them twice and they were both at the very beginning of my time here. They were delicious, and one thing I really like about Spain is that you can sit at a cafe for as long as you want if you order something and no one is going to think twice about it, bring you the check, or ask you to leave. Because they don't invite people over to their houses to socialize, going out is how they do it here. We definitely took advantage of that staying there a long time just chatting about everything and catching up.

Then Theresa headed back to her house to take a shower before we went out for the night and I headed back to my hostel. The hostel is really cool. Great location right in the middle of the old town with very clean and bright rooms and a terrace and bar on the top floor with 2 computers and free wifi. I ended up hanging out with people on the terrace. Two guys from England, one guy from Scotland and one guy from Germany who was mostly on his laptop. It was a lot of fun and we talked about traveling, the different education systems and a bunch of other stuff. Theresa came and hung out there with us too when she got back. We shared some wine and then all of us headed out for the night.

According to the people from the UW program Cadiz is known for its beach and nightlife. We were hanging out with people from the hostel for a while. The group had grown by quite a bit with other people from other parts of Europe, and then we ran into a group of people from Theresa's program and ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night. It was very chill and a lot more low key than in Madrid. We went to a few bars then clubs and it was a lot of fun. I ended up heading back early to my hostel at 3:30 and got a text from Theresa at 5 in the morning asking if we could meet up a bit later because she needed more sleep.

In the morning I had the free breakfast of white bread (toast) with margarine and jam then checked out. Then I headed back to the terrace to do some more work while I waited. I got tired of doing that so left my bag behind the desk and headed out to explore. I ended up at the market which had a lot of sea food. I love being in a place so close to the ocean where the sea food is so fresh and plentiful! That will be one of the sad things about going back to Reed where we don't have fish very often and if we do it is bland and dry.

I met up with Theresa there and we wandered around some more. She showed me where her school is, right next to the park where I was studying the day before and then she showed me her favorite bakery next to the school where she got a piece of cake. A German bakery in Spain but I don't think that she knew that. We pretty much saw the rest of the city going to different plazas and around the edge. Cadiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Iberian Peninsula and possibly the oldest in all of southwestern Europe. It was one of the most fortified, and being surrounded on 3 sides by ocean and a narrow bit of land going back to the mainland it still has quite a bit of its original walls and towers.

Later in the day we walked out on this really long walkway out to a little fortress that was unfortunately closed to the public because they are fixing it up. It was a really warm day getting up to 75 degrees so it was really nice to sit in the sun with a light breeze looking back at the city hanging out watching an old man fishing and people jumping off the wall into the water. If I hadn't checked out of the hostel and left my bag we probably would have gone to the beach.

Another part of the day we were hanging out in a little plaza and it was just full of locals at cafes and I think a little kid birthday party going on. There were kids playing soccer and running around and having tons of fun and it was the cutest thing! Theresa took a video on her camera. All the little kids seemed so dressed up and cute to me.

After that she showed me La Punta, which means the point, which is an area out on a point where all the clubs are. It is the only place where people can drink legally outside because it is more on a dock and not actually on land. There was a whole row of clubs next to each other and she told me that they don't open until 3 in the morning. People start going out about midnight and don't head to the clubs until 3 or later. Cadiz is definitely a party city. We sat there and watched the sunset over the city before taking pictures on the giant square rocks put there to break up the waves and heading back to the city.

We saw some of her UW friends back in the new part of town where we wandered around for a while and in one plaza watched a band play on a stage set up. I think it is part of a youth program going on right now in the city where they sponsor different youth bands from Cadiz to play or different activities for younger people.

After that we headed to Cerveceria 100 Montaditos. I have a lot of friends in Madrid who really love this place but I hadn't been before. They have a list of montaditos (little sandwiches) that range in price from 1 euro to 2. If you buy a montatido then you get a jarra (mug) of beer for only 1 euro. They have tinto de verano (wine with lemonade), wine and some other drinks too. I was surprised but the little sandwiches were absolutely delicious! I expected them to be cheap bar food that people have to buy but they weren't at all.

I caught the number 1 bus to get back to the bus station to catch the bus to Madrid without a problem. I got on the bus, blew up my neck pillow, leaned my seat back, fell asleep, and woke up in Madrid in the morning. It was a really fun trip and so great to get to see Theresa while I was here!