The passage to Rota was a modest 15 miles and for once we
managed to sail most of the way before the wind died down in the afternoon
which is unusual, as it is normally breathless in the mornings and brisk as the
day goes on.
Rota is situated in the bay of Cadiz
and there were a number of marinas available to us. We chose Rota as the ferry
to Cadiz runs
from inside the marina and we planned on a visit to this famous city.
The entrance to Rota marina
has a bit of a dog leg and was very busy when we made our approach. Despite a
few attempts at calling up the marina on the radio we gave up and phoned them.
All the ports in the area used channel 09 so when they are busy it is hard to
get a word in edge ways. Although the berthing instructions were a little confusing
we moored up and went to the office to book in for two nights.
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| Scarlet in Rota |
We did wander into town but forgot to take the camera, so
no snaps to show. It was pretty enough with Moorish influenced stone archways,
and like Jerez
and probably many other Spanish cities, many narrow, cobbled streets. The
beachfront looked excellent and was still busy well into the evening and it
would have been easy to stay here for longer and explore some more.
The next day we caught the 0830 ferry to Cadiz at just over 9 Euros each way for the
two of us.
Cadiz is one of those places that you have often heard about but are not really sure
why. In its hey day, it was one of, if not the most important cities in the
world, as it was a major port of trade with the New World.
This led to great wealth and prosperity which can be seen in many of the public
and private buildings, many of which date back to the 18h century.
 |
| View from Castillo de Santa Catalina |
Cadiz is also famous for
witnessing the first liberal constitution of Spain,
Europe and Latin America. Laws were passed in
1812 on the freedom of the press, abolition of torture and proposing the same
for slavery. This year they are celebrating the 200th anniversary of
this constitution. There is so much history to Cadiz we felt we should really have done some
background research to appreciate it but we are sure we will go back one day.
 |
| Cadiz street |
We strolled along the promenade enjoying the Atlantic breeze
and the Magnolia trees in Alameda Apodaca, which were supposedly brought back
to Spain by Columbus
from the New World.
From there we headed into town and found a place called Tavira Tower.
For 5 Euros each we enjoyed the panoramic views from the top and visited the
camera obscura. This camera projects a brilliant moving image of the surroundings
at that very precise moment. It did
actually seem like spying on the city as we saw people walking around the
streets, cars driving past and people hanging out their washing on their
balconies, all blissfully unaware that they were being watched. From the roof it was possible to see many of
the watch towers that merchants would have used to observe trading ships coming
from the West Indies. If you go to Cadiz this place is well
worth a visit.
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| Amazing rooftop views |
For the remainder of the day, we managed about as much
sightseeing as our new blisters would allow and caught the evening ferry back
to Rota. Then it was time to plan for the next
leg, to Barbate which would be our last stop before the push through the infamous Straits and on to Gibraltar.
Steve and Lynne x
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