Ruth and Peter: Holidays, family events, friends and much more from 2012 onwards... : Cadiz at last: day 2

Looking down on the lobby of the block of flats

We got up fairly late, understandably, and had a frugal breakfast of cornflakes and banana and a cup of tea. After much consultation of maps and newspaper cuttings, and taking the advice of Pablo, we walked up our street to the sea and then along the front where the path circles the 'nose' of Cadiz! It was hot and the humidity was high, the sea was sparkling and clear and the sky was blue!

No idea what kind of tree this is

We admired some amazing trees, and some topiary. We searched for a coffee stop but rejected the large modern Parador with its trendy furniture made from pallets, in favour of a bar, Quilla, that had been recommended for dinner in the evening.

Pallet furnitu

Topiary and blue sky

The waiter was a little surly, but we had two coffees and a much needed glass of water. From our seats we could admire the sandy bay and the beach covered in bodies, with more bodies standing about in the shallow water. There were also a lot of boats moored. The shallowness of the beach and the fact that people were just standing about and not swimming, made it less of an attraction for us.

Central market, Cadiz

We turned inland along Rosa and headed for the central market where we admired the fish! We decided on a light lunch and a siesta so we bought two freshly made sandwiches, some plums, a bottle of Coke Zero and a packet of corn tortillas. Armed with these we threaded our way back to the apartment through the narrow streets. After lunch we checked out a few restaurants and Peter rang and booked at Codigo de Barra, which has got good reviews. Stand by for food pictures!

The Cathedral

Royalty at the Cafe Royalty!

After a long siesta, catching up on reading and emails etc., we sampled the wine our host had left for us with some corn chips before setting off on an evening saunter before supper. We went down Calle San Francisco which was lively and had a mixture of shops. At a large square we turned right and found the even larger square in front of the Cathedral (which was closed for the evening). On the steps a bride was having her photo taken and appeared to be undressing! We moved on from the hot square to a shady street which took us to the plaza where our restaurant was located. At first we were dismayed to see that the restaurant showed no signs of life, but we had time to spare so we went to the Cafe Royalty for a glass of sherry and admired the decor. Through the window, Peter kept an eye on the Codigo de Barra and we were relieved to see that just a few minutes before our reservation time of 8.30pm the restaurant sprang to life, the tables were laid on the square and all was well!

We went over and sat down and the meal began! We started with another sherry, and some tortillitas de camerones - shrimp fritters served with a pink mayonnaise. While we were enjoying these we were presented with what looked like two olives in olive oil. Turned out they were a surprising explosion in the mouth of icy green shell and something tasty inside. We also had a glass of some kind of warm meat broth with a piece of dried jamon balanced on the top. Our waitress explained that this represented the first tapas when some king (?) had asked for his glass to be covered to prevent flies falling in - I think that was the gist of the story. Then our starters. Prawns in sherry for Peter, in a froth of something delicious and unidentifiable. Sweetbreads for me. Small, rich and very tasty. By now, beginning to regret the bread we had been dipping in the olive oil, we were feeling quite full and had to find room for our steak and mashed potato! Actually, the steak was not that good. The flavour was fine, but there was too much gristle. The red wine was good though. We consoled ourselves afterwards with a shared cold soup of mango with cardamon ice cream. And threaded our way home.