July 24 from Seville to Cadiz

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Today we took the train from Seville to Cadiz. In Spain there are all types of different trains, which vary greatly in speed, quality, and price. Normally for long distances we take the AVE, which is the Spanish equivalent of the French TGV (very, very fast), and for short day trips the AVANT (almost as fast as the AVE, and bizarrely cheaper). Today we took the Andalucian Express. Express turns out to be the Spanish word for “milk run”. Cheap, slow, crowded, and a bit uncomfortable. But it got us here. Cadiz is a popular spot with Spaniards looking to excape the heat of the cities in July and August, and some of the people on our train were carrying their beach lawn chairs. They were probably just making a day of it.

Cadiz is a very small, very old, town at the end of a narrow peninsula. Our hotel is situated where the old town starts to turn into the new town along the long lovely streach of beaches. So it's only about 800 metres from the train station. We decided to walk. Turns out, it's a bit uphill, and with the bags and in the heat of the day, it was a little more work than envisioned. After two weeks on vacation we are in better shape than when we left home so we made it to the top of the hill. Fortunately at the top of the hill was a very useful bar with very cold beer.

Our hotel is 50 metres from the beach, and what a beach! Warm Atlantic Ocean water, gentle swells, and great sand. No shade anywhere in sight - the locals all take beach umbrellas with them. At the height of day the beach looks, from above, like a solid roof of beach umbrellas. Since we are among the few without umbrellas, there were no extended beach visits for us. Just twice to the beach for swimming (okay, bobbing), then back to the hotel. Turns out that even bobbing uses energy and different muscles from the ones used for walking - so a siesta was needed. We really like the concept and practice of a mid afternoon rest.

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Photos

Trains
The rule is if you want to get somewhere in Spain quickly and comfortably do not take a train with a flat nose. The modern high speed trains all have pointy noses. We took a flat nosed train from Seville to Cadiz.

Downtown Cadiz
This is the plaza just down from the train station on the way to the tourist information office. One of the first things we saw in Cadiz

Beach
This picture was taken when the sun was in the wrong position but you can see what Jim means about the beach umbrellas