Cádiz exists on the threshold between the Atlantic and Mediterranean and doesn’t entirely belong to either. Its major industry, shipbuilding, is dwindling, but that decline doesn’t feel crushing, and even the kitsch elements that cater to the city’s holidaymakers don’t usurp the flow of the town. Life, at least on the surface, has a balanced, placid quality. If you want to visit, do so in the summer with everyone else, not in winter, when I went. Actually, don’t visit at all: you might ruin it.
Thursday evening: Arrive by train
The best way to get to Cádiz is by train from Seville. Cádiz used to be an island and, if you time it well enough, the train will ferry you across the land bridge as the sun goes down.
9pm: Try not to evict any old ladies
It’s tempting to rent an Airbnb in Cádiz (I did), but last year El País reported that an 88-year-old woman was told either to buy her €147,000 flat or leave so that the flat could be used for short-term rentals.
10pm: Drink a first glass of sherry
The Gaditanos have been producing sherry for 3,000 years. Try Listán Wine Tasca near the centre: decent tapas, friendly staff.
Friday 9am: Breakfast at Café Bar Andaluz
This friendly bar is the best for breakfast because it offers different infusions of oil to pour on to the bread before the topping.
11am: Gaze out to sea from the beach
Walk 3km along the Playa de la Victoria. From there you can look west. First, towards a shoal of surfers, then nothingness, then North Carolina.
1pm : Climb the cathedral tower
The huge old cathedral in the centre of town is very handsome. Down in the crypt, the echo moves in circles around the room. Up in the tower, the bells go off every 15 minutes, and views are directly under the bells.
2pm: Eat fried fish in the central market
Cádiz has some of the best fish in the world. It’s mostly fried. In the Mercado Central, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 3.30pm, stalls provide a busy, chattering crowd with lunch.
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Sunset: Sit on the wall at the Playa Caleta
When the afternoon turns pink, walk north to La Viña. There’s a beachfront bar called Bar Club Caleta, and a wall adjacent to it where people sit and chat and smoke hash and drink beer. You can spend hours on that wall.
Saturday morning: A walk in the park
The big avenue in Parque Genovés is flanked by cypresses cut into Solomonic columns. You’ll end up at a little kiosk selling coffee and tostadas, which you can consume while inspecting the trees.
1pm: Take to the catwalk
Walk along the sea wall of Cádiz and you’ll see it’s bolstered by large concrete cubes. Then you’ll spot the occasional cat sunbathing on them. Then more cats. Then many cats…
3pm: Watch fishermen
Midway down Playa de la Victoria is a spit that curves into the water. You can wander along it and sit with the fishermen.
7pm: Eat at El Faro
Restaurante El Faro de Cádiz will probably set two people back about £120, but the razor clams may be the tastiest shellfish in the world. After that, black rice with stewed cuttlefish. or the sea urchin, which comes with a cream made from its own gonads.
IN BRIEF
Stay It’s easy to find hotels in the Old Town or places to stay on Airbnb (at the risk of pricing local people out of their flats).
Eat Tapas at Casa Pepe on Calle de la Rosa; paletilla Ibérica and tomato salad at Mesón Cumbres Mayores on Zorrilla 4.
Don’t miss Mercado Central, more like a sculpture park than a fish market.
Image by Getty
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