Three days of exploration on Spain’s southern coast.
I finally made it down to the warm and sunny southern coast of Spain, except it wasn’t sunny nor warm. On the two days before Christmas 2021, it was torrentially downpouring. Plus, a bit on Christmas as well. Luckily, there were my least scheduled days, although I was looking forward to spending some time on Christmas at the beach. That didn’t work out that well.
After the visiting the Ancient Roman town of Italica on the outskirts of Seville, I headed southward to Jerez de la Frontera, where I stayed for a few nights at a really cheap but fancy hotel. I explored a bit of Jerez before giving up for the day due to the rain. Jerez is a sizable city known for its sherry. The area was first settled by the Phoenicians and then the Romans. The city was, for a time, was on the frontier (hence the name) between the Moorish and Christian kings. Today, one can still find some of that Moorish history at the Alcázar of Jerez.
Cool city gate that I parked by.
Jerez’s really cool looking cathedral. Too bad I couldn’t get inside for some reason.
The Casa del Abad, a cool and very altered old building.
Plaza del Arenal, the city’s main plaza.
The gorgeous Plaza de Asunción.
Now for the Alcázar. A pretty impressive gate.
Looking pretty much like a castle.
I’m skipping past the modern section of the Alcázar to the 12th century Moorish buildings.
This building was a mosque and probably later turned into a church.
It’s an interesting building to say the least.
The other side of that impressive gate.
The Alcázar was later used to make olive oil.
A giant olive screw press.
The garden is a bit soggy.
The Moorish baths are still completely standing. So awesome!
Awesome walls.
Moorish cistern!
Not all the walls are still standing but the keep is still there.
Moving on to a very soggy morning in Cádiz on the coast. Cádiz is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe. This ancient city, founded by the Phoenicians in 1104 BCE, is located on a peninsula. Today, Cádiz is a bustling metropolis that I tried to explore but the rain got in the way. Plus, it was Christmas Eve, and everything closed early. I had planned to take the train from Jerez, but it was raining, and I didn’t want to walk to the train station. I found a parking garage under a nice park, Parque Genovés.
An appropriate fountain for this rainy day.
I had to walk a ways in the pouring rain to the cathedral.
The Plaza de las Flores, complete with a flower shop. So cute!
Santiago Apostol is pretty interesting looking.
Santiago Apostol has some interesting dark gold altars. They might just need to be cleaned but I like them.
Just a random city wall over a narrow street.
San Juan de Dios is a tiny chapel next to Cádiz’s city hall. I like the blue ceiling.
The Cathedral of Cádiz is a rare Spanish Baroque cathedral that was built using funds from the trade with the Americas. It took so long to build, 116 years, they started to change the style of the building. I don’t know why its two different colors. It’s not from cleaning.
The choir is pretty. Even though the cathedral wasn’t Gothic, the choir is still in the middle of the church.
This is the only cathedral I saw that looked like this.
The cathedral is a little worse for wear, but it still was pretty.
The Sacristy is a bit interesting.
The rain stopped for a few minutes, so I walked along the waterfront.
There’s the cathedral and some colorful buildings typical of the Mediterranean.
I tried to walk out towards the Castillo de San Sebastian, which is out on an island connected by a causeway, but I started getting pelted by rain.
On Christmas, since everything was closed, I went for a drive along the coast. Here’s some of the random stuff I found.
The Lighthouse of Bonanza, the best name of a town ever.
The cute town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda had some interesting houses.
A pigeon filled plaza.
The cutest church ever, Iglesia de los Desamparados.
Cute alley.
The Lighthouse of Chipiona.
A cute building in Chipiona.
Castillo de San Marcos in Puerto de San Maria. It was originally built as a fortified church, on the remains of a mosque. So many churches were built on former mosques.
I finished Christmas with a damp stroll between rain showers and Domino’s pizza (it was wonderfully open). The southern coast of Spain is usually visited during the summer, but it was nice seeing the area when there were only locals around.
Check out my next update where I explore more of the southern coast of Spain!
or
Start at the beginning of my travels around Spain!
