Discovering Cádiz

A frequent movie stand-in for Cuba and well known for its annual winter Carnaval, the city of Cádiz is also a perfect base for exploring Andalucía’s fascinating wineries and tasting the region’s fine food

- SHAWN HENNESSEY

Looking out across the rolling immensity of the Atlantic ocean, the city of Cádiz, perched on the southwest coast of Spain, is one of the oldest inhabited cities in Europe. Situated at the end of a long sand spit on what was once an island, it has been like a little world unto itself since the Phoenicians first came here some 3,000 years ago.

While Cádiz offers fewer major monuments than some of its counterparts, there is still history and architecture aplenty. From the cathedral and the recently uncovered Roman theatre in the old Barrio del Pópulo, to the famed fish market and merchants’ watchtowers, the city has a character all of its own. Stroll along the seaside garden promenades and through the gracious squares dating from the city’s 18th-century economic heyday to the iconic Balneario (bathhouse) on Caleta beach, with its tiny fishing boats anchored in the bay, and the stone causeway leading to the 1706-built Castillo de San Sebastián fortress.

To the south of the city, heading out into the province of Cádiz, the white sand beaches of the Costa de la Luz stretch as far as Tarifa at the southern tip of Spain, not far from Gibraltar. In late spring and early summer this stretch of coast is where the annual tuna catch, the Almadraba, takes place, and a visit to the local fish markets in Conil (about 43km down the coast from the city by road), Barbate (66km) and Zahara de los Atunes (75km) is well worth the effort, as are the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia in Bolonia, between Zahara and Tarifa. In the nearby Sierra de Grazalema mountain range you’ll find a number of Andalucía’s famous white villages perched on rocky hilltops, including Vejer nearer the coast (62km), and inland Arcos de la Frontera (65km), while in the north of the range sit Grazalema itself (111km) and Zahara de la Sierra (116km).