Exploring Cadiz

This mini-book is an excerpt from "Exploring Andalusia".

Cadiz is probably the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe. It is a place of picturesque and labyrinthine lanes, dotted with bars and restaurants, with a dramatic bay, dominated by a show-stopper of a cathedral that would not look out of place in Renaissance Italy.
Cadiz played little part in the 800-year history of Al-Andalus, so it boasts no important Moorish or mudejar architecture. It became significant in the Age of Exploration which followed the expulsion of the Moors, especially after 1717, when Seville’s Guadalquivir river silted up, and the government made Cadiz the port of disembarkation for all the gold and silver flowing into Spain from the Americas.
Today, Cadiz is characterised by faded elegance. The Oriel windows are still in place, and the tiled courtyards still peep our from behind heavy double wooden doors. The palm-fringed plazas, and the charming townhouses that pack together and create the maze of narrow streets of the old town.
Spain is the second most-visited country in the world after France, but the majority of Andalusia’s visitors head straight for the beaches and stay there. They are missing a great deal:

The “grand tour” of Granada, Seville, Cordoba, and Malaga

World-famous pueblos blancos (white villages), strung like necklaces around mountains

Vast, spectacular, unspoilt mountain landscapes, with some of the best hiking country anywhere on the planet

World-class cuisine that combines the Mediterranean diet with north African flavours, wonderful local wines, and, of course, sherry

We have loved exploring the sites, sights, and smells of Andalusia from our home in the Serrenia de Ronda. With its fabulous photos and an informed, light-hearted commentary, we hope this mini-book will tempt you to do the same.