Summer Holiday Cádiz

Last week Cat and I went to Cádiz for our Summer holiday.

It was just a week this year and we didn't really decide what to do this year until the last minute. It was either a motorcycle tour around Catalonia, France or a short flight to somewhere in Europe.

Because Cat likes the Atlantic and we had never been to the very South of Spain we decided to take the Trenhotel night train from Barcelona to Cádiz and rent a car there for a few days. We booked train and car and I also bought a backpack and some trekking shoes for the trip.

Because the booking was done in the last minute we didn't get a sleeper cabin, but the sleeper chairs are OK too. The train goes from Sants station to the centre of Cádiz. The first night we staid at the wonderful Hotel Argantonio , but because we didn't book we just had the room for one night. We had a look around the town and the next day headed south.

A lot of the coast of Southern Spain is filled with horrible new holiday homes and you won't find nice villages, but the beaches and the surroundings are rather beautiful. We stayed at camping sites, which were all nice and usually had access to the beach.

We as far as Tarifa and after a bit of sightseeing got the idea of taking a ferry to Tangier .

As it turned out you need a passport for this unless you go on a packaged tour, then an id card is sufficient. The tour was packed full of "shopping opportunities", like spices, gifts and carpets and other stuff we didn't really want. But because we didn't have a choice and Tangier is a nice place it was worth the trip. I would have liked some time to explore the city myself, but you would need more than one day anyway. One word of advice: if you enjoy the western tradition of toilet paper, you better bring your own.

The last day we did a quick trip to Gibraltar and then back north to a camping ground not far from Cádiz to make it easy to drop of the car and spend some more time on the beach and in the town.

Overall a very nice holiday, with a bit of everything and also a bit exhausting. I would do it all again, but maybe book the hotel earlier and go with the motorbike.

You can see more picture in my facebook album.