Category: Europe 2018

I couldn’t post any blog posts in Cádiz because for some reason the WordPress.com site seemed to be blocked. So I am posting the two Cádiz posts from our next stop Ronda. Everything else about the Cádiz Parador was perfect.

It was a very relaxing day. All the museums are closed on Mondays so we spent the morning wandering around exploring. The streets had all been washed overnight after the big party yesterday.

This guy was handing out Werthers Originals candies.

The Parador in Cádiz overlooks the Atlantic. We spent much of the day relaxing, reading and enjoying the view. This is what I am seeing from where I sit on our bed!

We walked out on the main pier to watch the sunset and look back at Cádiz.

For Brian’s birthday dinner we went to a seafood restaurant called El Faro. In the picture below the waiter is breaking the salt crust off the whole fish we shared.

And there was a candle in Brian’s desert.

Before we left one of the Carnaval singing groups came into the restaurant and sang several songs. They were very good and theatrical.

There were also groups singing on the streets as we made our way back to the hotel.

And other groups just enjoying the evening.

It is Carnaval in Cádiz!! Our train this morning from Sevilla was packed. We walked through the crowds through the town to our Parador.

After checking in we went out people watching. What fun! the costumes were varied and over the top. We saw everything from suicide bombers, to Harry Potter to Nuns.

We stopped at a little bar near the shore and had paella.

Part of the Cádiz Carnaval is a ironic comedy singing competition. We watched several of the groups on floats doing their comical dances and songs.

For dinner we ate in the Parador. I had fish and octopus.

For desert Brian had chocolate with tangerine custard and sorbet.

Bonnie and I had crepes.

And Duke had a pastry with ice cream.

Our room has a wall of glass doors that open up to the patio. We opened the doors and played cards overlooking the Atlantic this afternoon.

This morning after breakfast of coffee and pastries we went on a walking tour of Sevilla.

In the fourteen and fifteen hundreds Seville was a very wealthy city because all the riches from the American colonies came through here.

After our tour we did some shopping.

And had a snack.

Because it is Saturday there were lots and lots of people out socializing.

After a rest we did some more wandering around enjoying Seville and eating. The first picture is fried asparagus and the second is goat cheese and berries.

There is quite a bull fighting tradition here. Many of the bars have bulls’ heads on the walls each with a plaque about the bull.

We are in Sevilla! This morning we took the high speed train from Madrid to Sevilla. It took two and a half hours to go about 250 miles.

This afternoon Brian and Bonnie toured the Sevilla cathedral. Duke and I have seen it before. We booked a Flamenco show for tonight and walked around enjoying the weather which is warmer than Madrid. We also visited the beautiful Archives of the Indies Building.

For dinner we had tapas before and again after the flamenco show.

Today for our second day in Madrid we spent several hours exploring the National Archaeological Museum. It has wonderful displays about the cultures in The Iberian Peninsula from prehistoric to the present. There was so much amazing stuff it was hard to pick favorites. I liked the Roman mosaics.

And the Visigoth hoards.

We went to Museo de Jamon for bread, cheese, and ham for lunch and had tapas at a few different places for dinner.