Rota and Cadiz

Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Sun 2 Oct 2016 13:56
We stopped a few days in Rota, not just because it's a lovely little town, but also, and mainly, because of the forecast big breezes from the east in the Straits of Gibraltar.

And blow, they did!  The days, and nights of Wednesday and Thursday the 28th and 29th September were very windy.  Sometimes, in the early hours, the blast seem to abate, and just when you thought it was all over, back it came with seemingly extra vigour.

We wanted a trip to Cadiz....the marinas there have a poor reputation...and were keen to take the ferry, but were out of luck.  The ferries were cancelled due to the severe weather, so we took the replacement bus instead.  That's an interesting ride around the bay, past the huge American naval base and across the spectacular suspension bridge in to the heart of the old city.  Cadiz is a large city. The docks must be amongst the largest in Spain, and the surrounding industrial sprawl is enormous.  But the old city is contrastingly interesting. Myriad narrow streets, hundreds, if not thousands of eating places, and quite clearly a city in which people still live. Everything in this part of Spain is spotlessly clean too. The only thing one can fault, if you can call it that, is the street waste water / sewage system. The not so occasional whiff of street drains is everywhere...from time to time.

We visited the Cathedral, scaled one of the bell towers for a view of the city, then strolled down to the Castillo Santa Caterina, which guards the eastern end of the harbour.

Back in Rota, we had a quick drink with our neighbours, Malcolm and Marilyn before heading into town for a bite to eat.

Our time at Rota was coming to an end...and the forecast was for fair breezes to take us further east, so we made plans for a Friday departure.

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