Back in Cadiz - 27 November

Our last day in Spain! I had made plans to go out with Mike and Suzanne again for lunch. Suzanne called me around 11:00 to ask if I would like to make a quick trip to the grocery store before lunch to stock up on food to get us back to Miami. They are just as tired of the food as I am! We made our way back to the center of the old part of the city where we had found a grocery store on a previous foray. We were side-tracked when we found that the outdoor market was in full operation so we just had to take some time wandering up and down the aisles enjoying the sights of the stalls and the cacophony of sound from the vendors and shoppers. Unfortunately, I was a total putz this morning and forgot to put my camera in my purse and missed the opportunity to photograph the market. However, Suzanne is not a putz and had her camera with her so I'm going to have to get copies from her.

Once in the grocery store, we loaded up on salad greens, salad dressing, and pepsi. We lugged our forty pounds of groceries back to the ship and made it through security without having anything confiscated. The ship is pretty strict about what food stuffs can be brought onto the ship and I'm never fully confident that I'm not bringing back contraband being the rabble rouser that I am.

We deposited our precious loot in our respective cabins and then went back out to the city, this time with Mike in tow. We were determined to have one more last gourmand meal before leaving port this evening. We soon located a cafe that was situated near the cathedral and was very picturesque. We stumbled our way through the menu and weren't quite sure what had ordered. I ordered a tapas meal for one and Mike and Suzanne ordered plates of anchovies...they hoped. The plates soon started to arrive and kept on coming. Our table was straining under the weight of the food, and most of it was due to my tapas meal. It included about five plates of delicacies including a beef stew, jamon, prawn, and salami and cheese that was unbelievably good! We shared all of the offerings and managed to consume all of it even though we were in pain at the end - but it was a good pain. This is picture of a very happy me after the meal in the cafe. Note the hams hanging in back of me. This is the pre-carved form of the jamon.

We left the cafe fat and happy and strolled through the streets enjoying the warm sun on our faces and the sights and sounds around us. We made our way towards a tower in the center of town that had a camera obscura. According to the brochure, a camera obscura projects a brilliant moving image of the surrounding town onto a white screen (it looked like a satellite dish on its back) in a completely darkened room. After paying the entrance fee, we climbed to the top of the tower where the demonstration was being held. The woman darkened the room and opened up the camera hole and projected the image onto the screen. The clarity of the image was startling. We could see construction workers from a mile away looking light they were standing only a block away. It was a great way to get an overview of the city and a quick history of the architecture in the area. When the demonstration was over, we climbed to the top of the tower and had a spectacular view of the entire city and could even see the ship from our position.

By the time we were finished in the tower it was late afternoon and we headed back to the ship. We were tempted to stay in town for dinner too but since most restaurants don't start serving it until 8:00 pm and our on-ship time was 9:00 we didn't think it was prudent to do so. We had been warned that there might be a long line to get onto the ship at 9:00 so we didn't want to get dock-time in Miami (which is the consequence of being late boarding the ship). Instead I worked in the library that evening and got the area organized to give some relief to us tomorrow.

We pulled out of the harbor around 11:30 pm and it was rather bittersweet. I have very much enjoyed my time in Spain and would love to spend more time here but I am also ready to come home. It has been an opportunity of a lifetime to participate on this voyage but it is a very intense and exhausting time too. I am ready to burrow back into my home and be with family and friends again. Nine days to Miami!