Cadiz, Spain - 23 November

We arrived in Cadiz, Spain this morning but I was totally oblivious to it since I was still in slumber-land. I awoke to the dulcet tones of the Assistant Dean announcing over the intercom system that all faculty and staff should go to the faculty lounge immediately to get their passports. Yikes! I hastily threw on some clothes and ran upstairs to get my passport where all of the faculty members got to see me in my bed-head glory. Afterwards, I ran back downstairs to take a quick shower and get ready to enjoy the day.

I had made plans to spend the day in Cadiz with Suzanne and Mike (they hosted the party in Dubrovnik). Around noon we set off from the ship to wander around the city and find a particular restaurant that Suzanne had read about in a tour book. 10 minutes into our walk and it started to rain. Of course, I had left the ship without my umbrella so my efforts this morning to get rid of my bed-head were totally wasted because I soon had rain-head. Nice to know that all of my primping efforts were going to pay off for the day. We made a quick stop at a tourist bureau to get a map of the city and then set off on the small streets and alleys of the city. It's a very small city and is an easy walk to get around - provided that you can read a map and have a good sense of direction.

We made our to the restaurant called La Fara and found that we were 15 minutes early for lunch since it didn't open until 1:00. Spanish meal times are going to be difficult to get used to since they serve lunch from 1-4 and dinner from 8:30-11:30. Not good, dear, not good. We used the wait to decipher the menu since it was in Spanish and none of us speak of lick of the language. We were eventually led to our table and soon discovered that the menu given to us had an English translation. Go figure.

We soon settled into one of the best meals that I have had in quite some time. We shared a bottle of wine and enjoyed the parade of delicacies that were lovingly placed on our table. The service was impeccable and our moans of ecstasy soon replaced our conversation. I was a total tourista and took a picture of Mike and Suzanne during our time there.

After two hours of absolute gluttony, we paid our bill and waddled out to the street. We were totally unmotivated to do any serious sightseeing so we decided to meander through the streets and just enjoy the walk and the sights. It's a charming city - especially since it had stopped raining. I enjoyed the architecture of the houses and shops and we enjoyed peaking into the stores. We could only peak into the windows since the majority of the shops were closed for the siesta time. However, we did find one tourist store that was so over-the-top-tacky that I just had to take a picture of it. It was filled with products of Cadiz and the shop was fashioned like a ship from the 1700s. The music they were playing was the theme from the Pirates of the Caribbean. I loved it!

We eventually made our way back to the ship around 5:00 and headed back to our cabins. We were signed up for a evening of flamenco dancing and bull-fighting demonstration for the evening so we needed a few hours to decompress. At 7:30 we met in the Union with a large group of people and loaded onto two buses for a 1/2 hour drive out to the countryside. We arrived in the middle of nowhere and were led to an outdoor bullring. We were given a glass of sherry (very civilized doncha know) and settled onto hard (cold!) concrete benches in the small stadium to await the show. The announcer told us the show would begin with flamenco dancers dancing with a horse. Huh?! Okay - we'll go with the flow. Four women came into the arena along with a horse being steered (yes, I know that isn't the proper terminology but I have no clue what the real word is) by a man. The music blared out of the loud speakers and the dance began. I quickly lost interest in the women dancing and focused on the horse and man because they were fascinating to watch. The man controlled the horse with reins while he walked beside it and the teamwork between the two was very impressive. That one was well-trained horse.

We went through several iterations of horse/women dancing before they finished with that portion of the evening's entertainment. Then it was time for the bull-fighting demonstration. The announcer told us it would be a one-year old bull that was being assessed for it's future spunk in the bull-ring so I was expecting a full-grown bull. WRONG! It was a baby bull that didn't look the least bit alarming. The picture doesn't do it justice but it gives you a sense of the size of the bull. Several young men came into the ring and started to do the cape-thing with the bull. I guess it's instincts are good because that baby bull did his best to get that cape. The demonstration lasted for about 15 minutes until the bull was exhausted and started to ignore the cape and was more interested in peeing in the ring.

After the bull demonstration, we were led inside for the flamenco portion of the evening. We were led into a room with tables of wine and appetizers on the table and we quickly settled in for the entertainment. Two female and one male flamenco dancers took the stage along with a singer and guitarist. They were phenomenal. Their skill and passion for the dance was obvious even to a neophyte like me. They performed for about an hour and then opened up the dance floor to everyone. We had a great time for about 1/2 hour until the tour guide announced that it was time to go back to Cadiz since it was 11:00. How the heck did that happen? The evening just flew by. We had a wonderful time and the day has been a wonderful introduction to Spain. I can't wait to experience more of it.