Cadiz, a city of sun

Cadiz is a city of sun - they get around 300 days of sunshine a year… today was not one of those 300…

We boarded the bus for a drive around the old city and then off we drove, through the Spanish countryside to the main attraction in a nearby town. We’d signed up for ‘A taste of Andalusia’ which involved a cooking lesson, sherry, sangria, and eating (oh my goodness, yes, more eating).

We passed wide salt flats and open marshes.

We trundled off the bus and down a narrow street past old buildings until we came to an open doorway. A tall slender man dressed in period costume answered the door and graciously invited us inside. The old home has been restored by a Spanish couple and then turned into a bed and breakfast with entertaining facilities. We toured the two b&b rooms and then descended to the ground floor where a large Spanish style room filled with tables, waited for us.

We made 4 tapis dishes which we then got to eat. A potato salad with onion was first, followed by mushrooms stuffed with pork in a sherry sauce, gazpacho, and finally garlic shrimp. Rivers of olive oil and heaps of salt flavoured the dishes. A dash of saffron was tossed in for authenticity.

Of course all this cooking makes a person thirsty… and since we are in Spain… a bit of sherry and then some sangria found their way into my glass.

It was lots of fun and a bit of a break from cathedrals and moorish castles.

Unfortunately we didn’t pass a store selling marmalade so some people are going to be out of luck for souvenirs.

Back at the ship it was time to do a real load of laundry - we’ve been doing our unmentionable bits and my wool excursion shirts in the sink but it was time to bring out the big guns. The laundry room is at the absolute other end of the ship, Carm estimates 600 feet, so we got our steps in running back and forth over and over again. 

We had barely finished the laundry when it was time to get dressed for dinner… you got it… more eating. My pants shrunk tremendously in the laundry or perhaps I’ve expanded, but the end result is ‘tight pants’. We’ll have to go on a water and gruel diet when we get home.

We sat beside a lovely couple (Bonnie & Mike) from Utah tonight.

The show tonight was fantastic. Kadie is an amazing violinist that puts a rock spin on things. He started out as a busker in Melbourne OZ and was discovered by a man walking past. He’s been playing cruise ships for 5 years now. We’ll not miss his next show.

Then we wandered around the ship and found a band playing. A glass of cranberry juice lasted long enough for a few songs and then it was back to our room to crash. Tonight we are expecting a swell of over 15 feet. Rock a bye baby!