jetjunkies

February 2, 2025

When we left on this trip there were a few gaps in the itinerary. Our Airbnb reservation in Cádiz, Spain was made for the entire month of February, but none of the local airlines had posted their flight schedules by the time we left Portland. Turns out there is no connecting flight between Palermo and Seville. No flights at all on February 1st, so we had to use a hack (I use the word hack, because there was a hack warning when I made the reservations) to make the trip on the 2nd. We bought tickets for two separate flights, a little risky in case of a fight change, as we would be out a set of tickets. We flew from Palermo to Pisa, had to go through security again and then from Pisa to Seville, cabbed to the bus station and caught a bus to Cádiz. The good news is that we could pay a nominal amount for an accelerated security check. We left our apartment in Palermo at 5:15 am and arrived in Cadiz at 5:15 pm. What the what??? Looking at the two cities on a map it doesn’t look like it should be such a big deal.

We have a third floor apartment in Cadiz, situated in the historic district and walking distance to great shopping and restaurants.

Cádiz is an island off the coast of southern Spain in Andalusia, north of the Rock of Gibraltar. One of the things that attracts us to the area is its antiquity, the area is traditionally claimed to have been founded by the Phoenicians in 1100 BC. Plus it’s just a super charming city of a little over 100,000 people, so no big city crowds.

February 3, 2025

We are so lucky to have an express mart across and down the street a few feet. Not like our express markets, but with a selection of fresh produce, pretty much everything, just a much smaller selection. The Supermercado, is probably less than half the size of a typical grocery store in the US.

We were looking for our authentic Andalusian restaurant when we walked by someone I thought I knew, Pete immediately said “big fans”. It was Bruno Gouery (Luc) from the Emily In Paris series.

That was startling, because I don’t usually recognize celebrities, they don’t look the same to me in real life.

In the celebrity category, there is an episode(s) of the upcoming British TV series, Young Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie being filmed in a little park a few blocks away. Who knew Cádiz is such a glamorous place, not us! As far as I can tell the locals are mostly disinterested or oblivious, which might explain why it would be attractive to the well known.

That’s the first full day of our stay in Cádiz.

January 4, 2025

Not much in the way of plans for for today. We walked to the Supermercado and did some serious grocery shopping, cooking tomorrow. Also made reservations at a restaurant for our big mid-day meal. We had the classic Spanish Tapas in the bar, so hungry for potatoes for some reason. The Spanish are masters at making potato salad, ours was loaded with prawns and house made mayonnaise, yum. The vegetarian lasagna was really good too and Pete’s hamburger was very good, but so messy he had to eat it with a knife and fork.

Haven’t had a TV on the last month, so binge watched shows on Netflix tonight.

We have been invaded by mosquitoes, they love me and are getting into the apartment somehow. Thank goodness I brought some repellent. They were so desperate they even went after Pete. Will have to ask about anything we can do to keep them out.

Going to pull the sheet over my head and go to sleep. Hope you are all doing well!