Jerez, Rota, and Cadiz

[April 20]

We reached Jerez in the midday, just in time to buy some snacks in the market and walk down the busy shopping street. We found a quiet place for lunch and experienced the Andalusia's laid-back style of lunch service. One waitress was quickly serving 10 tables, but it was still a 2 hour lunch. But we didn't mind at all and had fun sitting out in the shade of a orange tree. Since this is the city named for sherry, we also tried two strong glasses of the stuff. It was really nice actually.

After lunch, the city was absolutely empty and every shop was closed for the afternoon "siesta" time. A totally different concept here than the US. (Below, a picture of me at the Cadiz waterfront.)



Our next stop was Rota, which we decided to stop by when we saw a road sign pointing the way. It is a military base from the 50s, and happens to be the place where Greg is based, husband of a college friend Ashley. We thought that they were still in the states but wanted to see the area anyway. Turns out that they were flying back that afternoon and we missed them by a day! Anyway, the town had a nice beach and that's about all we saw.

Then we drove around the bay to Cadiz and took a driving tour before finding a place to stay. As I mentioned in the Cat Post, this town had a lot of stray cats near the beach. It is also a famous spot for filming movies and we happened to see part of a movie set before they took it down for the day. Then we found a tasty dinner of fried fish and called it a night.