We Know Where You Woz

So, last weekend I was in Cádiz, Spain's most captivating city, as I mentioned in a previous post. 

One of the enormous trees in Plaza Mina with the almost-completely

obscured Museum behind.

It is also one of Europe's most ancient cities and the oldest continuously inhabited one. In fact its Museum on Plaza Mina contains, as well as quite a few rather boring Murillo paintings, many artifacts dating from Carthaginian times.

Cruise ships - important sources of wealth
for today's city.

The city proper is at the end of a long isthmus and thankfully the wrecking ball of the 20th century left almost all of it intact, except for the area next to the commercial port which now welcomes numerous cruise ships.

Fidel would feel at home here.

Five centuries ago however, other, slightly less-welcome ships came to Cádiz as Drake and other English privateers raided the port - both for strategic reasons and indeed to land in nearby Puerto Santa María, carry off Sherry from Jerez and Manzanilla from Sanlúcar de Barrameda and no doubt to tarry with the exotic gaditanas, famous for their grace, elegance and beauty since Roman times. 

One of the results of these incursions was the razing of the city by the English and its consequent reconstruction along a grid pattern (centuries before Birkenhead whose grid street plan is said to have inspired the model for New York) to facilitate the movement of troops from one place to another as the need arose. Curiously enough, the new city and its fortifications were based those in La Havana in Cuba, hence the fact that it often stands in for the Cuban capital in big-budget Hollywood blockbusters.

Cádiz, therefore, is no stranger to Tom Cruise. I just wonder if he was able to peep over the promenade parapet without having to be lifted up by his mum! 

A piedra ostionera on the sea wall parapet.
  

The building material used in Cádiz was the local piedra ostionera, literally oyster stone. This is a rather porous sedimentary stone which, as the name suggests, is full of ancient sea shells. 

Impressive architecture with sumptuous carving and
ornate tilework.

Cadiz enjoyed the monopoly of trade with the Americas and so became an immensely rich city as the picture of this ornate house in the extensive Plaza de San Antonio shows. 

A house with a veedor

In this part of the city a lot of houses were originally built by shipowners and each had its own lookout tower, or veedor, where an employee would sit, looking out to sea, scanning the horizons for the arrival of the owner's ship(s) returning from the Americas laden with riches. Either that or he would sit there reading the sports pages and smoking ciggies. For centuries, between the hazards of the elements, English privateers and sundry wars the safe return of a ship was never certain until it had moored - and sometimes not even then. 

In the photo on the right we can see one such house with its veedor on the corner of the eponymous street. The street itself is a pleasant  mixture of small shops, fish friers and bars.

Another great advantage of the city's narrow streets and time-capsule like properties is that indeed there still are numerous small shops. Most of the city's department stores are located outside the historic city centre along the isthmus.

Calle Veedor 10, the Iron Duke slept here

After the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), the next time that Cádiz came to the notice of the English public at large was during the Peninsular War (1808-1812). The city became one of the few Spanish cities not to fall to the French. Lovers of historical novels might like to read El Asedio by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The French besieged the city by land and frequently bombarded it but, thanks to the Royal Navy's domination of the waves, life and commerce continued without too much hardship - at least for those inside the city. The French besiegers suffered constantly from a lack of supplies and guerrilla raids. It jolly well served them right, if you ask me. 

Ferdinand VII looking like a 

rotund Mr Bean.

From 1810 to 1812 what was in effect was the Spanish Parliament held sessions in the Oratorio de San Felipe Neri, an oratory in Calle del Rosario. It was during that time that the first Spanish constitution was drawn up, known as the Cádiz Constitution of 1812. It didn't take long, however, for the inept and absolute Bourbon monarch Ferdinand VII to abolish it as soon as he was back on the throne and thus plunge Spain back into political turmoil for over another century.

Rear view of the monument to Spain's first Constitution with a cruise
ship behind.

San Felipe Neri. The narrow
streets make it impossible to
get a decent shot

So, there is a brief trot through Cadiz and its history. There will probably be more in the same vein at a later date when I get another opportunity to escape from the rather over-rated city of Seville. During the April Fair perhaps? 

A couple of views along the streets of Cádiz. The sparkle of the sea is never too far away, no matter how long the street. Turning a corner is always a pleasant surprise - you might find another sparkling street or a large unexpected square. The city is well worth a long, contemplative visit - much longer than the ones that the cruise liners afford to their passengers who, replete with half-digested experiences and food, hardly have time to soak up the true experience of this welcoming, intimate pearl of a city before they are back in the boat and off to another destination.