Cadiz

A few years ago, Brenda and I took a cruise out of San Diego that had stops in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and Mazatlan. We were scouting for warm weather getaways that are closer to Vancouver than Thailand. We had heard great things about Cabo from friends who have property there and expected to fall in love with it as well. As it turned out, we hated Cabo and P.V. but fell in love with Mazatlan, where we spent the following winter.

And that's the best thing about cruising. It's like buying a bottle of Scotch at Heathrow Airport's World of Scotch. You get to have a small sample of a whole bunch before you pick one you like.

This cruise has shown us better sides of Brazil in Rio and Santos and has had us discover two places that we now want to return to: Tenerife and today's stop in Cadiz, Spain.

Cadiz is in a tug of war with Lisbon to claim the title as the oldest city in Western Europe at over 3000 years old. It's home to the ruins of a Roman amphitheater that at one time could seat 10,000 people. The ruins were discovered while excavating for development. There was already an apartment building built on top of a portion of it and, apparently the tenants aren't overly bothered by the thousands of tourists that pass by daily to get a look at the laundry they hang to dry in the window that overlooks what once was a stage.

Cádiz is said to be the departure point for many of Columbus's explorations, including the one in 1492. Everywhere you look, there is history, or at least something interesting to look at.

Today was overcast most of the day, but it was a comfortable, breezy 22 degrees, which made exploring the old town quite pleasant.

We took a guided walking tour of the old city and got a good feel for the place. There is so much more to explore in the old town with its narrow, crooked streets that were laid down with apparently no plan in mind. Without a map, one would never find their way around, so disorganized are the streets. There's a fascinating central market, a magnificent cathedral, and tapas bars and restaurants everywhere, even a vegan restaurant.

Add another potential winter getaway spot to our ever expanding list.Read more