Today was another long and grueling excursion in the port city of Cadiz. What was supposed to be a fairly mild tour turned out to involve 2 1/2 miles of walking. We were also supposed to take a train ride, but that never happened as the stop we were supposed to go was closed and they substituted another venue without telling us.
Little did I know that I would be spending most of the day touring a winery. Wine tasting and wineries are Michael’s bailiwick, not mine. However, this one was actually quite interesting. The day started out sunny and cool, like 59°. It did warm up to the mid 60s. We boarded the bus for a panoramic tour of Cadiz with a guide who had a very heavy accent, making it difficult to understand what she was saying. I think Michael gave up trying to listen to anything she said.
Cadiz was founded in the 12th century and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe. It is a typical Andalusian city with well preserved historical landmarks. The older part of Cadiz, within the remnants of the city walls is commonly referred to as the old town and represents a large area of the total size of the city. You will not find any private home here as everything is in multi-story apartment buildings. It is on a peninsula that on one side is the Atlantic ocean and the other side is the Mediterranean Sea. The beaches and sand dunes are quite lovely and I can imagine people out there in the evening after sunset during the summertime enjoying picnics.
Our ship docked right downtown and this is the view we had from our veranda.
Here is a map of the area that will help you understand how strategic this place is as a port as well as how small the city really is.
After the city tour, we drove to Gonzalez Byass, a winery that specializes in Brandy and Sherry. It was started in 1835 and is still in the family. Today, the family owns 14 wineries, producing premium wines and spirits in Spain, Chile, and Mexico. As this place has grown over the many years, it included entire city streets. The entire compound was huge. There was one bodega (wine cellar) after another, the largest of which held over 5,000,000 liters of Sherry. There were an additional four more humongous bodegas. Every wall was white washed, and there were red geraniums planted in pots everywhere. There were grape vines that grew 10 feet tall and their foliage created shade over the streets. We also saw huge wine barrels that were signed by celebrities, including the queen of England, Steven Spielberg, and even Winston Churchill, and Orion Wells.
After the tour by a knowledgeable nonrelative, we repaired to the tasting room. I have been to many tasting rooms, but never have I seen one like this one. It was huge and had multiple rooms. Everything was set up for us and there was a glass of sweet Sherry and a glass of dry Sherry. Mr. Wine snob, A.k.a. Michael, actually liked the sweet Sherry and wanted to buy a few bottles to take home. We do not travel with bottles of booze in our suitcase.
After our visit to the winery, we walked around the town’s side streets before we got on the bus to go for lunch. Cobblestone streets everywhere.
We got back on the bus and drove for about 45 minutes to get to the lunch venue. Europeans love to walk, and walk we sure did today. There were several in our group who have trouble walking, including yours truly, but I did OK even though the pain in my right leg was present. We were dropped off for lunch about a quarter of a mile from the restaurant. When we got to the restaurant, there were two bus loads of other Vikings waiting for their busses to come and get them. In the meantime, with all the crowd huddled around the entrance, staff from the restaurant came out with glasses of beer for everyone.
We were warned there was a lot of food by the folks that went in before us. The first course consisted of carpaccio, cheese and shrimp with shells on them. There were rolls and crackers and potato salad. The waitress then came and plopped a pitcher of beer, a bottle of wine, and a pitcher of sangria on the table. I had a Coke Zero. The next course was some sort of vegetable and shrimp fried up like a potato pancake. It was a little too greasy for my taste. And then we were serve the main entrée which was brisket and french fries with gravy on top of it. And for dessert we had flan. If you left hungry, it was your own fault.
After lunch was finished, we then had entertainment. There was a guitar player, a male singer, and a female flamenco dancer. I don’t know why the singer used the microphone at the beginning of the show, because later in the show, he was just as loud without it. I believe everybody enjoyed the show.
