Dave was needed in Cadiz, south west Spain ,for work for a few days so Ellis and I tagged along to see the place and to catch a glimpse of the sun before the Aberdeen winter.

The journey there takes a day and a half from this part of the UK due to limited flights. Neighbour Euan kindly took us all to the airport on Sunday afternoon in plenty of time for our flight only to discover it was delayed due to fog in London. So, five hours of hair pulling and general running about ensued:

Monday afternoon we finally arrived to Cadiz after an hour or so transfer from Gibraltar (weird place). We were staying in a residental part of the area called Vistahermosa. The hotel Los Jandalos was lovely except that it was pretty much closed for winter.  Sadly therefore, the pool was not open and neither was the restaurant or the bar! Luckily our room was very lovely and therefore not such a pain.

Dave was busy working every day from 7 until 6 so Ellis and I did some touring about while waiting for Dave to come home. The first day we did a walking self-tour of Puerto de Santa Maria; the nearest town to Vistahermosa. It took most of the day to get around it despite all the attractions being closed due to being off season. Still, we saw the outside of lots of lovely buildings like the Cathedral in the imaginitively named Plaza Catedral!

That evening we went out to a local bar with some of Dave’s work colleagues to say hi.

Wednesday Ellis and I went over to Cadiz on the ferry! It was much more open for business than Puerto and we had a lovely day wandering about the bussling streets and of course drinking coffee in the Plazas. We got the train home again and it was Ellis’ first train ride! She had some difficulty remaining upright!

Thursday Ellis and I headed to one of the beaches at Vistahermosa so that she could try her hand at walking on the sand… and eating it. It was picturesque (other than the view of the Cadiz fab yard) and practically deserted.

Friday was Dave’s last day at work and our last full day in Spain. Sadly I was rather ill on the Friday perhaps due to the alcohol connsiumed the night before with his work buddies but I think it must have been dodgy albondigas! When Dave got back from work we all went to another of the Vistahermosa beaches for a play and then out to dinner in the evening. It was the first time we had made it past the bar and beyond the tapas!

A lovely break away for Ellis and me and perhaps a sightly more interesting week at work for Dave.

You can see the rest of the photos here.