The Mysteries of Cadiz

This week was a rather hard one for me. Going home seems so close, but yet so far. I have about three weeks left. Because it seems so close, I am worried that I will not have enough time to do all the things I want to do here in Seville and am starting to get nervous about finals. But because it also feels so far away, I really miss everyone back home and wish I did not have to wait so long to see them. I want to be able to enjoy my remaining time here, but all these pesky emotions keep getting in the way.

This week in my “Spain through Travel Literature” class, we read an essay called “Plural Spain” about how each region of Spain is so distinct. It made me realize that I don’t really know Spain at all. I have only been to places in Andalusia and Madrid. I have not been to Barcelona, or the Basque Country, or Toledo, or so many other places in Spain that differ wildly from Andalusia. People ask me “How is Spain? What is it like?” I can’t answer that question, because I have not been to all of Spain. I only know about Seville, and Seville is definitely not all of Spain. It makes me sad that I have spent so much time in this country but only know one small part.  I wish I had been able to travel to other parts of Spain. However, this realization motivated me to at least see more of Andalusia, so I decided to spend a day in Cadiz this weekend,

Cadiz is a port city about 1.5 hours from Seville. My friend Sam and I took the train there on Friday. I didn’t know too much about Cadiz, only that it is on the water, which was enough reason for me to want to go. The first thing we noticed after getting off the train was the wind. There is rarely a breeze in Seville, something I did not notice until I felt the strong sea-breeze in Cadiz. We had no firm plans for our day, which is my favorite way to travel. The first thing we did was go to the Cathedral. I wanted to climb the tower there, but it was under construction. “It’s under construction” would be the theme of our day in Cadiz. We had a little ego boost when after buying our cathedral tickets in Spanish (you have to pay for the cathedrals in Spain, I feel like Jesus would have a thing or two to say about that), we asked for our audio-tour to be in English and the guy replied “Are you sure you don’t want the Spanish version?” It was a nice compliment about our Spanish. We wandered around the cathedral for a while. then found our way to the market in the middle of the city. It was sort of like a Spanish version of Reading Terminal Market. We were very excited. I got a plate of shrimp to take advantage of our proximity to the ocean. Shrimp here are served with their heads still on. It was slightly disconcerting and I was confused about the correct way to eat it. They were very salty and tasted different than any shrimp I have had in the U.S.

After lunch, we headed towards the beach. As soon as the boardwalk became a beach, we saw a walkway heading out to what looked like a castle. We decided to investigate. The walls of the walkway were low, and we occasionally got sprayed by the waves. The castle was called Castillo de San Sebastián, and it was actually a fortress from the early 18th century. Because it was a cloudy day in November, it was mostly deserted, and felt extremely eerie. Many parts of the fortress had “no trespassing” signs on it, and the whole thing seemed to be falling apart. We joked that it would be a perfect setting for a video game about the zombie apocalypse. There weren’t really any signs anywhere, so it felt incredible mysterious. However, it was one of the most visually interesting places I have ever been. The sight of the crumbling castle walls surrounded by the sea was any photographer’s dream. It was very cool, and I don’t think I will ever forget it.

Castillo de San Sebastián

There was a similar castle a few hundred yards away. It took us about 15 minutes of wandering around it to figure out that it was being used as a contemporary art museum. We entered the chapel to find a destroyed sandcastle and were very confused. We went into another part of the castle and saw a closed door, which turned out to be part of an art exhibit called “The Closed Door.” I was not impressed.

Afterwards, we went to a cafe that was showing American MTV, which I’m pretty sure you cannot get in Spain. How was this playing on the TV, you ask? Another Cadiz mystery. Cadiz serves as a port for a lot of cruise ships, so it is a big tourist town. However, because we were there in November, it was fairly empty. Because it is the off-season, a lot of things were closed or under construction. Most of Cadiz seemed to be slowly falling apart. The day was overcast, which added to the eeriness. I felt like I was in a murder-mystery show. On the way home, we listened to “Serial” on the train (I’m obsessed- everyone should listen to it), which further added to the association between Cadiz and something sinister. However, it was a very interesting day, and I was thrilled to be near the ocean.

I’m not sure what my last three weeks here will be like, but I hope that I can take advantage of my time left in Spain.