Mallory en España: A short trip to Cadiz, Spain

On Sunday we returned to Tangier to take a ferry that went through the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangier to Tarifa, Spain. Because Laura and Julie were returning to Burgos that day, the others had already left for Cadiz and Youness was staying in Morocco with his family, Thais, Steph and I braved the ocean on our own. It was sad to leave Morocco, as I had quickly fallen in love with the beautiful country. There’s nothing I’d love more than to return!

After about an hour and a half on the ferry, we arrived in Tarifa, Spain and took a bus and then a taxi to our hostel, The Melting Pot, in Cadiz, Spain. In total we traveled 13 hours that day, so we were definitely exhausted! However, we weren’t too exhausted to be VERY excited to see our friends from which we had been split up. The Melting Pot was such a cute place and it was my first experience in a “real” hostel. Each room had 10 beds and a set of lockers for each bed to guard one’s valuables. The top floor had a terrace with a little bar and a common area with a kitchen in which the guests could store their food and cook. There were people staying there from all over the world—we met Americans, a guy from Israel and others from France, Germany, Morocco and Colombia. It was neat to have such a diverse group all under one roof!

Although Thais, Steph and I were very tired from traveling, we weren’t too tired to experience Cadiz nightlife! That night we went on a “Nightlife Tour” through Cadiz in which each person paid 10 Euros to get free entry into five different bars/clubs and a “free” drink at each place. We had a great time and it was fun to get to know the other guests at the hostel.

On Monday we slept in pretty late and then went sightseeing through the city. Cadiz is absolutely beautiful. We walked to the Plaza Mayor and got ice cream and then checked out the beach. At the beach there is a stone walk that goes out about a quarter mile into the ocean to a fortress called “La Caleta”. We walked/ran out to La Caleta, and I say run because the ocean to the left side of the walk was CRAZY. Waves splashed up over the walk every ten seconds, and all of us got soaked despite trying to sprint through as fast as we could!

The next day was sad, as it was the end of our trip to Cadiz. While everyone got ready to go to Sevilla, I packed up to head back on my 15 hour bus ride to Burgos because I’ll be meeting up with the Millers in Paris on Saturday! The ride was long, but because I hadn’t gotten much rest over the week I spent much of the time sleeping. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.

These next couple days I’ll be doing laundry and getting packed up for my little trip to Paris. I’ll be spending Easter with the Millers, so it will be nice to be able to spend the holiday with part of my “beach family”!