Next Port of Call - Cadiz, Spain

Waiting to disembark for our Chef's tour of Cadiz .

After a day at sea, it felt good to arrive in Spain.  Today's plan, The Chef's Tour of Cadiz.

Cadiz (pronounced Cah-DIZEE), is a quaint little city with narrow cobblestone streets lined with interesting shops.

Cadiz has plenty of narrow streets lined with cute shops.

Chef Nicolle, from the ship took a small group of us on a walking tour of the city to the local market where Saturday shopping was in full swing.  Each small booth was filled with colorful fruits, vegetables or some form of sea food.

LOTS of fresh seafood.

Tom checks out fresh fruit.

I really hate when they look at me like this!!

Kiss a fish!  

Huge Tuna, Squid, Prawns, Sharks, Crabs, Clams, fish of every size and description and in every stage of life, from still swimming, to skinned, trimmed and filleted.  There was definitely something for everyone.  Interesting local merchants were hawking their goods.

We had an hour to explore the market, but it certainly didn't take long to get our fill of the crowds and the aroma of fresh fruit and fish.  Before we left the ship, we were given ten Euros to spend at the market.  Since I didn't see a fish purchase in my future, we quickly found a small sidewalk cafe, ordered beer and water and enjoyed watching the endless parade of folks strolling by.  It was great fun watching the locals and the tourists saunter by.  It was also fun and easy to distinguish between the two and follow up with an interesting class category from homeless to royalty and guessing their country of origin.  The Irish were easy to find with their lily white legs and red hair.  I know I saw some of my distant relatives from Arkansas stumble by.  

The PERFECT people watching perch.

This particular little sidewalk cafe didn't seem to be the type of establishment that accepted American Express, nor American dollars and we only had 10 Euros.  So I was a little concerned about how we were going to pay the check.  So we did what any disconcerting patron would do ... didn't worry about how were were going to pay up, we ordered another beer and continued to enjoy the comfortable seat and enjoy the parade of folks.  Turned out, the beer was cheaper than the water.  Two beers and one water added up to 4.80 Euro, less than half of our cash.  Sweet!!  Another beer, please!

Soon, we met up with our group and headed to lunch.  The drive to the restaurant took us along the shore on Saturday afternoon.  Clearly a beach day, the beaches were filled with hundreds of colorful umbrellas and swimmers.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a photo of the umbrellas.  But the way they are clustered together would have made a lovely painting of the seashore.  

Our lunch spot, Ventorrillo Del Chato, is known as the origin of the "Tapa."  Tapa is a small serving of food or a "small plate."  Legend says the king stopped here for lunch.  He was served a glass of Sherry and flies quickly filled his glass.  So he placed an empty plate on top of his glass to keep the insects out.  Not wanting to see an empty plate in front of the King, the barkeeper placed a small serving of food on the plate.  Thus, the Tapa was born.  Now I don't know if this is fact or folklore, but it certainly was fun trying plate after plate of the tasty Tapas.

Tapa time at Ventorrillo Del Chato with Roger, Jen, Bruce and Gail.

More tapas with Haynes, Tom and Melody.

This particular area of Spain is known for Serrano Ham.  Made from white pigs and fed a specific diet, these pigs are slaughtered, stacked and covered with salt.  Then they are hung to age for six months resulting in a tasty, salty ham. 
 

Serrano Hams waiting to find a home.

Our first Tapa was Serrano Ham and cheese.  Then we moved on to Shrimp, Fois Gras, small omelets and vegetable lasagna.  Then they brought our entree.  Thank goodness the Tapas were tasty, because the over cooked and fishy tasting tuna entree was not.  

After a day of Tapas, only a few hours later, we met Bruce and Gail at Pacific Rim restaurant for dinner.  Bruce decided since we have a day at sea tomorrow, tonight would be a night for us to "howl!!"  So after a fabulous dinner, we found ourselves at the upstairs Observation Lounge for cocktails.  I forgot to mention earlier how stunning Bruce's footwear was for the Tapa tour.  He was wearing a pair of Nike tennis shoes, one green and one blue. 
 

Bruce sports Nike's new multi color tennis shoes.

He said he was a bit taken back when the shoes arrived as he thought the store had mistakenly shipped the different color shoes.  But turned out to be a statement.  So I had to answer back tonight with another "statement."  One black and one blue shoe. 

 

The new LOOK.  Everybody on the ship is wearing multi color shoes now!  What a trend setter!

Hey, I think we're on to something here.  Shoe sales could double when women buy two pairs of the same shoe in different colors, wearing one of each to match an outfit.  It worked.  And only one bitchy woman pointed out the fact that I was wearing different color shoes.

Bruce, Gail and Julie at Observation Lounge.

While dancing with Bruce in the Observation Lounge, a rather large woman, Ruth, shoved Bruce out of the way and began to teach me how to dance.  I was a bit shocked, but didn't want to make this woman angry.  She looked like she could take out Haynes ... and that's saying a LOT.  So I just finished the dance and escaped her clutches  I have to admit, she is a great dancer!  But she could us a little work on her brutish technique.  She told Haynes to NEVER let me dance with Bruce again.  And I thought we looked like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers!!

Our quest for the perfect Cosmo continued tonight.  Although, I believe I mentioned that all of the bars on board have perfected the skill of the perfect Cosmo.  So it was an easy night, in that we made only one stop at the Observation Lounge until closing time.  After all, it was our night to HOWL as tomorrow is a day at sea.

And howl, we did.  What a fun evening.  So much so that I slept until 2:00 in the afternoon on our "sea day."  It couldn't have been the Cosmos.  I must be suffering from jet lag.  Yeah, that's it.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Haynes and I set off for the gym for a workout and to sweat off some of the booze from the night before.  It was an awesome, but quick workout, as we had to get back to the room in time to prepare for a cocktail party we were hosting tonight in our suite.  By the time the guests arrived, our butler, Fernando, had a full bar set up with plenty of hors d'oeuvres and programmed the piano to play endless tunes.  It was great fun catching up with our Tampa friends and The Vintage Club Friends. 

Tom plays the piano as Bruce sings and Monte watches in amazement.

Gail and Haynes

Don, Karen, Nora and Julie

Don, Jack, Park and Sandy ... friends from Tampa.

Francine, Doreen, Nora, Dede and Julie together in Spain.

Park, Haynes and Sandy.

Bruce and Monte

Nora entertains the group.

After our cocktail party, we joined our Tampa friends, Don and Nora, Dede and Sandy, Francine and Park and Doreen and Jack, at the Compass Rose for dinner.  I can't believe I had to come half way around the world to catch up with these friends.  It was great fun watching Francine and Park enjoying their "martini-off," racing to see who could down their martini first.  It got interesting.

After dinner, Francine wanted to find the Karaoke bar.  Jack had already thrown in the towel and retired for the evening, but the martinis were in full swing for Francine.  We had a great time AND found another spot for excellent Cosmopolitans, the Explorer Lounge.

We will arrive in the Canary Islands tomorrow morning and have scheduled another Tapa tour.