Say “Andalucia” and most people think immediately of Granada, Sevilla, maybe Córdoba. Hiding in plain sight nearby are Andalucian gems that you are missing out on: Cádiz, Jerez, Arcos de la Frontera, Vejer de la Frontera, and Donana National Park.
In late April, we used Cádiz as the base for six days of exploring the southwestern corner of Andalucia. The oldest continuously occupied city in Europe, Cádiz sits near the junction of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Geopolitically coveted it seems to have been, as waves of civilizations washed over it, left their mark, and succumbed to the next — Phoenicians, Romans, Moors, Christians.
The walls protecting the ancient city of Cádiz remain, and now enclose a delightful array of attractions perfect to visit on foot. The walled city is large enough to sustain two or three days of relaxed strolling.
Highly recommended attractions start with the Camera Obscura, https://www.torretavira.com/en/visiting-the-tavira-tower/. Invented in the 11th century, these ingenious optics systems prefigured Google Street View by a millennium. A camera obscura uses large lenses and mirrors to capture live, 360 degree images of the streets, buildings and rooftops near its location and project them onto a concave viewing surface inside the building that houses it. Even if modern-day technologies have rendered this periscope-like device quaint, it's a marvel to visit.
Inside old Cádiz, there is also a string of ancient ruins, an art exhibition space, a marina, botanical gardens, cathedrals, street cafes, traditional bars, flamenco music, excellent restaurants and grills serving up fish and seafood 100 yards from where last they swam, and shops selling local olive oil. It’s charming, all the more so because it feels like you’re the only American visitor in town.
From Cádiz, we drove an hour to visit Jerez, the epicenter of sherry vineyards and cellars. If you think you don’t like sherry, having a flight of the different varieties might surprise you. Even if you’re unmoved by the product, the process of making true sherry is pretty cool. Just as sourdough bread contains cultures from the dough of a long-ago loaf, so too does true sherry contain some drops from the barrels of an ancient vintage. Jerez (Spanish for sherry) is a prosperous small city with excellent food to go with the sherry.
Other easy day trips from Cádiz:
Arcos de la Frontera is a national historic monument and one of Spain’s pueblos blancos, or whitewashed villages, perched high on the side of a cliff and topped by a castle. It has exceedingly narrow cobblestone lanes leading past galleries and historic sites to a Parador with great views.
Birding rocks in and around Donana National Park and Natural Preserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site particularly vibrant during migration, as birds pour back into Europe from wintering in Africa. We recommend https://birdingthestrait.com to hire a guide.
Another national historic and artistic monument, Vejer de la Frontera is a small, intimate walled town with a jumble of tiny streets. The homes have entrances with carved wooden doors and elaborate ironwork, lovely patios with heaps of flowers, and murals or tile work in the foyers. The architecture has traces of its former Jewish inhabitants. An old church houses a funky and poignant little museum of customs and traditions.
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In the town of Barbate, an hour or so south of Cádiz, get ready for the best meal of fish you’ve ever had. Barbate is small and unassuming (some would say gritty), but Campero Restaurante serves a once in a lifetime meal focused on red tuna. Caught in the nearby waters of the Med where it spawns, red tuna served any of a dozen ways at Campero is a destination meal. On the way back to Cádiz from Barbute, stop during nesting season at the roadside cliffs for a glimpse of the Northern Bald Ibis, a critically endangered bird even non-birders find striking. Well, maybe.
Getting there. Malaga, a United hub, was our point of entry to Andalucia, but Spain’s truly great systems of inter-city buses and high-speed trains would get you to Cádiz or around the region with ease. Malaga provides a comfortable, vibrant entree to the region. It is stoked with culture, hosting satellites of the Pompidou and Thyssen museums, as well as the Picasso Museum, and an edgy Contemporary Art Museum with a cafe, Oleo, well worth trying. Malaga is also a great walking city (sometimes shared with the cruise ship visitors whose numbers ebb and flow with noticeable regularity), with a wonderful waterfront promenade and, of course, the requisite ancient cathedral.