Cadiz

We did a day trip to Cadiz today. It's about 2 hours drive south of Seville on the Atlantic coast just west of Gibraltar. Did you know it's the oldest city in Europe? I didn't. A tribe whose name I can't remember settled there, in a safe harbour, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, 3500 years ago. Then came the Phoenicians, followed by the Romans, the Moors and the Christians. Today archeologists are sifting marble and bronze statues from a temple of Hercules, now under the waters of the bay. Its heyday was the 18th century when the river silted up, which meant that the lucrative monopoly on silver and gold from South America was switched from Seville to Cadiz. All that was brought to an end by Napoleon, who conquered Spain and in his turn was beaten by the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Trafalgar just off the coast.

Today Cadiz is a relatively downmarket Spanish tourist resort. A few foreigners get there, either from the cruise ships or touring the sherry region around Jerez. We visited the cathedral, climbed the tallest tower for a bird's eye view, bought fantastic fruit in the market, strolled through the old town (the photo is of the main square), and went to a concert (the main reason for the visit). The London Haydn Quartet flew in to give a performance of Haydn's "Seven Last Words" in the Oratorio for which it was composed, which rather surprisingly is in Cadiz.