Cádiz

We are in the west of Spain. Today the sunrise was at 8:29 am and sunset is at 6:46 pm. So we got this great shot of the sunrise from our hotel window.

 

 

Today we explored Cádiz. We walked through the market

 

and checked out the cathedral.

 

 

Then we visited the Torre Tavira and climbed to the top. In the 1700s Cadiz was a rich trading city. The trade with the Americas flowed through Cadiz. The merchant families built towers so they could watch their ships coming and going. According to the Torre Tavira website of the 160 towers Cadiz used to have 126 are still standing.

The tower itself was interesting and the view from the top was great. But the coolest thing is that at the top they have a Camera Obscura. I didn’t even know what a Camera Obscura is. Essentially it is like a periscope or one of those tubes you can make to see over crowds. It has a mirror and two lenses. The guide turned off the lights, opened the mirror and the natural light projected an image of the city on a concave screen about 5 feet in diameter. There were about 10 of us standing around the screen. As he moved the mirror around we had a detailed view of the whole city and he gave us a commentary about what we were seeing. Cadiz has a big new bridge that just opened this year, many old churches and inviting rooftops. The long focal length meant that the detail was fantastic and it is all done with just a mirror and two lenses!

 

 

Then we visited the Museum of Cádiz. They have an archaeological exhibit of things that have been found in and around Cádiz. The exhibit starts with Prehistoric objects. Then there are collections from the Phoenicians. They have two enormous Phoenician marble sarcophaguses from the 5th century BC. The male one was found in 1887 and the female one in 1980 when they were building a car park.

 

And then there are the Roman statues.

 

 

 

Tonight’s dinner was in our hotel just like last night.