DAY 8 - CÁDIZ (Rest Day) - Tuesday 30 April 2024

-

After a sleep in and leisurely breakfast we set out to reconnoitre our route for tomorrow. Google Maps said we could walk on the Puente de la Constitution de 1812 (a big bridge) to El Puerto de Santa Maria,  but we wanted to make sure.  

We took a scenic route to the bridge, noting the many beautiful gardens, statues and buildings. There were lots of people about, including a flamenco fit class, dog walkers and tourists. In the port there were two massive cruise ships, and opposite them a statue of Blas de Lezo brandishing a sword to warn them off - or at least that's what it looked like. Blas was a Monty Pythonesque never-say-die figure we learnt about in one of our favourite podcasts, Half-Arsed History. 

When we got to the bridge we found a lane for 'authorised' vehicles only. We assumed that included Australian long distance walkers but when we checked at the tourist bureau they gave us a firm 'no'. They did stamp our pilgrim passport however. We now intend to take a tram back to San Fernando tomorrow to resume our walk from there.  

After a bit more sightseeing, we took advantage of the 'menú del dia' before heading back to our hotel for a rest. 

Not all the locals are supportive of the influx of hordes of cruise tourists
Water feature in the Parque Genovés 
Jardines de Alameda Apodaca
Hop on hop off tourist bus. There are lots and lots of tourists in Cadiz. 
Loading a gold-looking candelabra from a church into the boot - probably totally innocent
Tiled water feature
As Cádiz is a peninsula, there are a lot of water vistas
Some of the many interesting statues in the city
A lolly stall in a park
Painter at work on an upper story
Among the hordes
The way we're not going tomorrow. According to the tourist bureau, this bridge is off limits to foot traffic. We have revised our plans accordingly. 
Cádiz city walls
Catedral de la Santa Cruz
Typical tourist photo, with the cathedral in the background. A couple of young Eastern European tourists asked us to take their photo, and then offered to take ours. 
Another menú del día lunch
Day 8 - Map

Day:                                8
Distance:                       0.0 km
Walking time:               0 hrs 0 mins
Elevation gain:             0 metres
Cumulative distance:  125.23 km

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PREPARING FOR ANOTHER LONG WALK

-
Image
We're excited to be getting ready for another adventure! This time we are heading to Spain. The plan is to walk from the southern most point to the northern most point, coast to coast.  We are utilising five pilgrim caminos, a first for us.  This is mostly because they are linking the places we want to visit,  but we are also keen to get a sense of the camino spirit we've heard so much about.   Map of our planned route across Spain We are not staying in the dormitories of the albergues - not so keen for sleepless nights - but have pre-booked a range of accommodation to ensure we get a bed at the end of every day.  Some days will have limited services so we will need to carry extra food and water.  We're very much looking forward to trying Spanish food and drink, especially the tapas and local specialities including sherry in Jerez. To prepare, we've been training with loaded packs on our local Lennox Head to Ballina walk,  varying the distance bet...
Read more

DAY 77 (FINAL) - O PORTO DE ESPASANTE to CABO DE ESTACA DE BARES - Monday 08 July 2024

-
Image
We travelled light today, leaving our big backpacks in our hotel room where we were spending a second night. Nevertheless, we were overtaken towards the top of the initial steep ascent by a young man with long legs and big strides.  After the climb, we walked mostly along a ridge, firstly through a hamlet and then through forest and some pasture. We shared the path with the Camino Natural for part of the way. We took a short detour off the path to Pena Furada, where we had magnificent views up and down the coast.  We continued on to 'the most beautiful bench in the world', according to a Google Maps pin which warned we might have to take turns to sit on it. It certainly had stunning views and some people took a very long turn but ended up being happy to share. There were quite a lot of people here because there was a car park and even an open chiringuito. At the chiringuito we did see someone with a big backpack and a scallop shell but we didn't stop to chat - we were ...
Read more

DAY 72 - ORDES to OZA DOS RIOS - Wednesday 03 July 2024

-
Image
After a muesli breakfast in our room,  we left Ordes, noting some murals, a lavadero,  veggie gardens and of course horreos. We were soon in the countryside again,  and today we found lots of horses. We also found a few poppies, which we'd seen every day earlier in our trip but had missed for quite a while now. Once we'd rejoined the Camino Ingles, we found lots of pilgrims too, especially in a bar in A Rúa where we stopped to have a coffee.  Although the owners were hard-pressed to keep up with demand, they were efficient and friendly, as we've found elsewhere on our trip. We didn't count pilgrims today,  but there seemed to be even more than yesterday.  We passed a couple of large groups,  including one which was probably made up of American school girls. The pilgrims did make finding the way easier, as we just had to look for the direction from where they were coming! A dinosaur is not something we expected to see on the Camino Ingles, especially w...
Read more