May 3 – Cádiz, Spain. We've been here twice before but it's a great city so it's always fun to come back.
Cádiz (Ca'-dis) is on a small peninsula that juts out into the Bay of Cádiz. If your shoulder were the mainland, if you extend your arm, Cádiz would be on your fist. It's the home of the best flamenco, at least in my opinion, and sherry.
Once again our friends the Phoenicians were the first settlers, this time followed by the Carthaginians and then the Romans. It was a thriving port in Roman times but became a forgotten backwater under the Visigoths and the Moors. Under Spanish control it became important again as the starting point for many of the voyages to the newly discovered Americas. It claims to be Europe's oldest city. Cádiz in on the Costa de la Luz (The Coast of Light). It's just outside the Mediterranean Sea before the Strait of Gibraltar. On the other side of the strait past Gibraltar on the Mediterranean is the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun).
Politically Incorrect (but accurate) Historical Viewpoint: It has become popular to point out that since there were already people living in the Americas, the Europeans didn't discover anything. How many times have we all had to endure a lecturer, documentary filmmaker or newscaster whining, "Those Europeans didn't discover anything, people were already there." Well that's such a load of horse pucky that you could fertilized all the farms in Kansas for the next hundred years with it if you could just get it in a cart and ship it there. Those manipulative, agenda driven hacks are counting on us to be ignorant or gullible enough to believe them and parrot back their drivel on command. Get any competent dictionary and look up the word discover. Never mind, I'll do it right here. To discover: 1. to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; gain sight or knowledge of (something previously unseen or unknown): to discover America (I was so pleased to find this example in the dictionary) ; to discover electricity (this is not in italics as it is not my opinion but taken directly from the dictionary). Notice that although electricity has been in existence since creation we can correctly say it was 'discovered'. Various European explorers were the first of their continent to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find the Americas so they definitely 'discovered' America under definition number 1 (the meanings are usually listed in order by common use in the dictionary). 2. to notice or realize: I discovered I didn't have my credit card with me when I went to pay my bill. Definition 2 really doesn't apply except in the sense that they did 'notice' the Americas. 3. To notice or learn, especially by making an effort: got home and discovered that the furnace wasn't working. Those pesky European explorers certainly made 'an effort' in learning of these lands so I think they would qualify under definition 3. 4. To be the first, or the first of one's group or kind, to find, learn of, or observe. Again, they were the first of their group or kind to find, learn of and observe the Americas so they would qualify as the discoverers under definition 4. It's fairly easy to see that in every sense of the word discover the European explorers did in fact DISCOVER the Americas. Definitions 1,3 and 4 clearly fit and only one has to apply to qualify your use of the word as proper. Is it any wonder I grow weary of the sloppy mental processes that pass for thought in the mass media of the USA. We should be outraged and yet most of us sit passively by and let our culture be corrupted by these nonsensical notions. None of us should tolerate fools lightly. Unfortunately I don't speak out as often as I should but I am getting better as I get older. There now don't you feel better? I know I do.
Sir Frances Drake attacked Cádiz to try to gain control of trade with the Americas. Cádiz was among the few Spanish cities that withstood the siege of Napoleon and the country's first constitution was declared here in 1812. Cape Trafalgar is nearby. Today there's a nice lighthouse almost at the cape's point but in 1805 it was the site of one of the most famous and important sea battles in history. It was just offshore here that my hero (I hear you all groaning, "Oh no, not more drivel about that pesky Nelson. Sorry!) Viscount Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson whipped the combined Spanish and French fleets, a loss from which neither empire ever recovered. Despite being greatly out numbered and completely out gunned (the combined French and Spanish fleet not only had more ships, their ships, individually, had more guns) the inventive and bold Nelson damaged, captured or sank a great portion of the fleet. In those days ships were power and the French and Spanish were unable or unwilling to reenter the naval competition that had been going on for over 200 years. Unfortunately, to inspire his men Nelson insisted on being in his full dress uniform on the deck of the lead ship, rather than direct the engagement from a command ship at a safe distance. A French sniper in the rigging of one of the enemy ships saw him and he was mortally wounded. He refused to die until the engagement was over and the enemy was completely vanquished. He was put in a cask of rum for the voyage home to England and at his funeral; his men drank a toast to him with that rum. To this day in the English Navy rum is referred to as Nelson's Blood. We visited his tomb in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral in London and stayed in a hotel just off Trafalgar Square. Don't tell me I don't honor my heroes.
This time we've decided to take a walking tour of Cádiz and see some flamenco dancing at a small club. Since we are docked across the street from downtown I thought our walking tour might just leave from the ship but they are including a drive around the new part of town first so we had to climb on a bus. We encountered a sculpture in the center of a traffic circle right downtown that looked like an open padlock. The open end of the hasp was shaped like the nib of a fountain pen. The intended message is that the pen can unlock the chains of mankind and the monument is dedicated to the institution of the democratic reforms that ended the grip of the military on the government of Spain. It's a fine image as far as it goes but I'm afraid that it's somewhat naïve. It was also a stroke of the pen that sent millions of people to concentration camps and death in WWII and countless atrocities through the ages. It's the selfless and wise use of the pen that makes the difference. Despite the problems with it's message, it's a very interesting sculpture and certainly inventive.
We drove past several schools that had knots of students outside waiting for classes to begin. These scenes are interchangeable almost anywhere in the western world. If it were not for the name of the school being in Spanish you could not differentiate these kids from the kids in any Flyover Country US city in the early spring. California kids dress differently at least in SoCal where I lived for so long.
Our first photo stop was at the beach near the Castillo de Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine). The tide was out and many of the small boats were grounded. It made a nice picture with the fort in the background. These forts were built to protect against the raids of pirates like the dreaded pirate Drake. Of course in English history he's Sir Frances Drake but to the Spanish he was a dastardly devil. Funny how that works out sometimes. Drake was one of the prime players when Elizabeth I took on and burnt the Spanish Armada. I'm pretty sure that the Spanish, and for that matter the French, are not too fond of my personal hero Lord Nelson but since he never raided civilian areas they don't hate him as much as they do Drake.
The Spanish in Colombia tell a story about Drake that I'm not sure is true but it's a good one anyway. Apparently Drake sailed up to Cartagena Colombia and sent an emissary in to tell them that if they brought all their gold and silver to the wharf and turned it over to him he'd let them go in peace. They claim that's what they did and he sacked and burned the city anyway. Could be true, could be false or the truth might be somewhere in between.
We went in and out of the old city wall several times during the trip, sometimes through arches that were added to ease traffic flow and sometimes through very narrow original openings. We did drive by the main gate and tower that are no longer in use. There's a very wide arch through the wall to accommodate the large amount of traffic in and out of the city.
We left the bus at almost the same place we had boarded it and walked across the street into the old city. The old town is filled with beautiful Eighteenth Century buildings.
Pop Quiz: I used to love to hear the groans when I said those words to my college accounting students. (What I didn't tell them until after the quiz was that I didn't grade it but allowed them to grade it themselves and keep it as a reminder of which areas might need a little more study.) So here's the question. Which years are included in the Eighteenth Century AD? Well I never said it was going to be hard.
Answer: January 1701 AD through December 1800 AD. Remember no year 0 and the First Century was 1 – 100.
The Congressional Building looks a lot like Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, maybe you know it better as Independence Hall. Not all that surprising as they were built in the same era, very neoclassical, columns and all. The version in the Pennsylvania Colony is much less ornate because the artisans and materials for the carvings and external decoration were not readily available in the New World and the cost to add those touches would have been astronomical.
In front of the building they have some flower arrangements that look like giant, about 7.5 foot tall, gumdrops. One stand was done in horizontal stripes of color while the other was one color. They were very attractive and Diana had to have her picture taken with one of them.
After entering the old city through a very small gate in the wall we passed the Hijas de la Caridad (Daughters of Charity) Convent of Saint Vincent de Paul. These nuns were active here in the city for 137 years but the convent was closed in 2009. The city now owns the very attractive building and has plans to convert it to use as a museum.
The stroll through the narrow streets was very pleasant. Everything was built in the 1700-1800s and the homes and public buildings were very attractive. After passing through the Pink Arch (Arco de la Rosa. Rosa is one of those 'part of speech and gender' dependant Spanish words. As an adjective it always means pink, as a feminine noun it means rose and as a masculine noun it means pink again. Since in this case it modifies Arch, it's pink arch instead of rose arch. I'm writing about this as a reminder to myself as I always forget to check gender when translating Spanish and Greek.) we entered the older medieval walled quarter of the city. Dating from 1100 to about 1350 many of the structures have been updated and modified since they were originally constructed. Some of the original façades have been carefully maintained and are wonderful to see.
The Plaza de la Cathedral is a bit unusual as it has two large churches on its perimeter, the Cathedral on the south side and the Santiago Church on the west side. One thing that's also a little different here is that the Baroque (1600-1750) Cathedral that was altered to neoclassical style (1750-1920) by the time is was completed. The neoclassical style had some staying power and it wasn't until the advent of Art Deco that it was finally muscled aside as a dominant style. The Santiago Church is definitely Baroque and was started in the style's sweet spot, the year 1635. The Cathedral, on the other hand was not started until 1776 at the end of the Baroque Period. Construction continued for 116 years. During that period rococo (1650-1800?) elements were added and it was finally completed in the neoclassical style.
From the Cathedral Plaza we visited the Flower Square, San Antonio Square and Plaza de la Mina on our way across town to our ultimate destination the La Cava Taverna de Flamenco.
When we were here last time they brought a folkloric group onto the ship to perform and I think it was the Quadro Flamenco La Cava. Now I would never have remembered that but I travel with pdfs of all my old travel journals on my computer so I can look things up in them. The note I made about this group was that it was the best flamenco I had ever seen, and I've seen quite a bit. I don't know if the Taverna is related to that group or not but maybe I can find out.
The taverna wound up being a very small place with a T shape. The small stage is where the bars of the T cross facing toward the long bar. Everyone gets a very good view of the action. We were treated to some tapas, olives, bread, manchago (from La Mancha) cheese and thinly sliced, air cured ham (probably Serrano) all delicious.
When the dancers, two ladies, one man, a male singer and a guitarist walked on the stage my question was answered. It's the same group we saw two years ago on the ship. The male dancer and one of the ladies were the same but the singer, guitarist and the other lady dancer were different. We agreed that the man was the best we had every seen but Diana and I had disagreed as to who the best lady dancer was last time. I was happy to see that my favorite lady was back. It's a phenomenon that I can't really explain but male flamenco dancers are uniformly thin, and I do mean thin. Conversely, female flamenco dancers are also uniform but they are usually substantial women at least from the waist down. From the waist up they may or may not be substantial but they are never thin. The dancing was fantastic. Again the male dancer was the undisputed king of the dance. His work was athletic, graceful, powerful and dynamic. No one in the audience or on the stage could take their eye off him. It was not hot in the taverna but when he finished his shirt looked like it had been dunked in a bucket of water. At flamenco you can shout 'bravo' but the real shout is 'ole'. He got plenty of both from us and from his fellow performers. The ladies were both excellent. Again I thought the blonde dancer in the red/orange dress was the best and Diana agreed. I would not have been at all surprised if she like the other lady better, it was that close. It was a great show, the group was every bit as good as I remembered.
On the walk back to the ship we passed through the Plaza de España, a large square across the street from the port. It is dominated by the Monument to the Constitution of 1812, a huge marble structure with a multitude of statues. It was erected in 1912 to mark the Hundredth Anniversary of the constitution, which was issued in Cádiz. We waited directly across the street from the pedestrian gate to the port that's about 20 yards from the gangway. HAL had a bus pick us up and drive us to the vehicle entrance to the port, about a mile in distance and drive us to the parking lot near the ship's pier, a walk of about 10 yards. We all got a good laugh about that. I almost skipped the bus ride but I took it anyway because I thought it would be great to have the shortest bus ride ever in Cádiz.
Back aboard I went up to the lido to have some tea and maybe a snack. I met some friends up there and we sat and watched the comings and goings in the port. The only excitement we had was an ambulance that showed up we thought to disembark an ill passenger from the Prinsendam. After a very long time we discovered we were wrong. There was a lady already in the back of the ambulance that was going to sail on the ferry to the Canary Islands. Why she had to sit in it for so long I'm not sure.
Because we are not leaving until 11PM they had another deck BBQ. This time they brought out the giant paella pan and that's a huge attraction for me. I love the stuff and again the ship's chefs did a great job.
After dinner we went to the folkloric show Thom has gotten on board. It was Cuadro Flamenco La Cava again. The man and my favorite lady were still with them but two younger dancers accompanied them. Most excellent flamenco dancers seem to be older, 30-45. The younger ones may be more limber and energetic but the expression isn't mature enough to be great. They can really move their feet but flamenco relies more heavily on posture, arm and head position, facial expression and manipulation of costume (especially for women) than most dance styles. At least it seems like that to me. The young just haven't had time to develop all that. The men hold their jackets and use them as part of the dance but the women, with their long dresses, fitted at the top but two layered and full at the bottom, really use them to great expressive advantage. The show was excellent. I'm glad we saw them at the taverna because I think Flamenco is like basketball. You need to do it on a wooden floor that has some flex for it to be really good. The stage at the taverna had that; the stage on the ship does not. The rock hard surface changes a lot of things about the mechanics of the dance and is probably way harder on the legs. Consequently the dancers were working way harder for less result.
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