Farewell to Spain

Oh friends, I find it highly ironic how much harder it is for me to write when I actually have things to share.

Spain has me absolutely smitten.

At ever corner café, down every cobble stone street, with every petite, old Spanish woman who offers you directions…you can’t help but feel charmed from your head to your toes.

The highlight of Spain was exploring Cadiz on the first day with Bryan, Pete, and Allie. We practically walked the whole Cadizian peninsula (thanks for the permission to make up adjectives), stopping along the way for cappuccinos, tapas, and a walk through the open-air market.

We were lucky enough to arrive early on Saturday morning. We woke up at 6:45am to Bryan (who’s our next door neighbor) pounding on our door and yelling that we had to get up and watch as we caught our first glimpse of Spain (and land after 8 days on the ocean). We hurried to the deck in our pajamas to find the sun rising just as we were pulling in to Cadiz.

We began walking the streets before the town had awakened (they must think we’re half crazy to be out and about at 8am). And very slowly, we watched the city rise from it’s slumber and come to life with the sound of chatter and cups hitting their saucers. On Saturdays, the streets are full of locals running their weekly errands by foot.

The following morning I began a two-day excursion to Sevilla (LOVE this city) and Cordoba. We toured all the historic places that you should when you’re visiting a historic place. This region of Spain in particular has a long, complicated, and intriguing history between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The famous cathedrals we visited were most all at one time mosques, meanwhile the Jews helped build the mosques that are now cathedrals…a unique pastiche to be sure. We only got part of a day in Sevilla, and I needed more. Were I to do it over, I would’ve ditched Cordoba and spent more time in Sevilla (and also probably traveled apart from Semester at Sea), but overall no complaints. (I was in Spain, who are we kidding?!?)

This morning my roommate returned from her own Sevillian adventure, and woke me up to begin our last day in Cadiz. We got pastries and worked our way through the maze of city streets to the post office. We ended up taking a detour to the Spanish grocery store, attempting to spend the rest of our Euros, and stocking up on snacks and a few other necessities for the rest of our journey. (All this is far less graceful than it sounds by the way. We were stumbling through language barriers with sub-par Spanish and humiliating accents, giggling as we went) We returned to the ship for lunch (Quite the process! Every time you re-enter the ship, it involves a bag search, a pat down, and a walk through a metal detector) and had lunch (attempting to save pennies where we can). We then used the money we saved on lunch to catch a taxi to the beach, and stroll along the sand. It was a perfect, enchanting last day in Cadiz.

It would be foolish to think that you can port in a city for a week (or less) and fully understand the ground on which you stand. Centuries upon centuries of life have been lived and history been written in this place, and while I can’t claim to know every detail, I can say that I love what I’ve seen and heard and tasted.

Thank you, Spain, for the lovely time. Until we meet again!

Love. Anna