El España

During my trip to Spain, I spent time in Cádiz, Jérez de la Frontera and Gibraltar. The first day I explored Cádiz and worked on some school work. The streets of Cádiz were really clean and the walls of graffiti were like art.    

Two friends and I did some sightseeing by walking around the city and on the beach fronts. We grabbed some tapas, which are small appetizers of different foods, from a local seafood restaurant in the city center. In the restaurant, I had my first experience eating shark which tasted better than other fish. I couldn’t believe I even took a chance on eating it; this was something definitely out of my element if you don’t know me (lol). But I’m glad I did because I loved it! After leaving the tapas restaurant we went to grab some gelatos from across the street. Since Ghana was our next port, we weren’t sure when would be the next time we would have gelatos, so we lived it up (lol). 

Later that night a group of us went out on the town to explore the nightlife in Cádiz. Two things that stuck out to me were that in every bank I saw, there were homeless people sleeping on the inside of the ATM vestibules. They would all pile up on such little floor space and stay in there for the night. The second thing was that Cádiz felt like the safest city I have been in throughout all of my ports. I felt so safe in Cádiz and never felt threated; I thought this was such a weird contrast. Because Cádiz was the first city to have the most homeless people among the rest of the European cities on our voyage, it was surprising that I felt safest there. Everyone in the city kept to themselves and was really laid back. My first day and night in Cádiz were easy, relaxed and observatory. 

The second day, on the other hand, was a bit spicier. On my second day a few friends and I took a bus to Jérez de la Frontera to watch a Flamenco show at La Cuna del Flamenco (Resturante Tablao Corpas). 

We were lucky because that day was the last day of the flamenco festival season. Flamenco is a huge deal in Spain; it is a very traditional dance in Spain that millions from around the world come to see. In the past history of flamenco, the dance was shown as a more provocative style of dancing. Men would belittle the women who did it but wanted more of them because of the provocative moves. Today, the flamenco dance is an empowering dance for women and is a show of pride for them to tell their stories.         

On our way to the show we looked around at the buildings and cathedrals. Jérez is a beautiful city inside the autonomous region of Andalusia. We ate some tapas at a local restaurant and had a traditional Spanish drink, “tinto de verano.” Fifteen minutes before the show started we walked back to the restaurant and waited for the performers to come out. The hosts of the restaurant gave us complimentary traditional Spanish wine. Specifically, one was Sherry wine, a very famous dry white wine from Spain that has a high export demand. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the Sherry wine or any type of wine in Spain. Spain has dry and spicy (hardcore) wine that is not easy to drink (lol), but I must say I was a fan of the tinto de verano.

When the show finally started everyone was so excited, including me. On stage there were three men and one woman. The woman started the show off by singing a song really loudly, a love story, and one of the men played the lead male actor of the love story; the two of them tap-danced separately and together. The intensity of the tap-dancing was something to make you feel the passion in the story. The second song described a time in her life when she was abused by her husband. The flamenco show was something new for me and very enjoyable; I would definitely see one again.

Before coming to Spain, the ship made an announcement that we wouldn’t be traveling to Morocco anymore. Because of the issues that had arisen between the U.S. and the Middle East, Semester at Sea (SAS) decided that for our safety it would be in our best interest not to go. Though there were no threats from Morocco, SAS did not want anything to stir up while we were there. When I heard the news about not going to Morocco, I was so upset. Morocco was the main country I was looking forward to visiting but I knew it was best for us not to go.

Since I was unable to go to Morocco, I spent my last day in Spain traveling to Gibraltar. Gibraltar geographically is a part of Spain but is a territory of the United Kingdom.  Spain is constantly fighting the U.K. because they feel the U.K. is trying to take over their country and possess their land. I was told that from the Rock of Gibraltar you are able to see Morocco because it’s located only a few miles across the Strait of Gibraltar. When I heard this, I knew the only way I would feel okay about not going to Morocco would be to see it from Gibraltar. 

The morning of my last day in port it was pouring heavily outside and many people from the ship, including me, were traveling to Gibraltar to climb the Rock of Gibraltar. Hesitant about going in the rain, it made me question whether I really wanted to climb a huge rock or not. I’m glad I made the decision to go because I had the greatest time. 

                       

I had a chance to see monkeys and experience naturally-formed caves that are breathtaking.  When I heard there were going to be monkeys on the mountain I was so anxious to see them until I got there. The monkeys were like thug monkeys (lol); they were very vicious and loved to take things out of people’s bags and hands. One of the monkeys jumped on my friend’s head and she started to scream (lol). She was so terrified the monkey was going to fall she tried to grab him to put him down and the monkey tried to bite her finger. It was so bad! At that point, we were all ready to go because the monkeys were crazy. Aside from the terrifying monkeys, I also wasn’t able to see Morocco that day because it was so cloudy from the top of the rock. Nonetheless, I did have a chance to see naturally-formed caves which were absolutely beautiful! My trip through Spain to Gibraltar was great and I’m glad I had a chance to experience climbing the Rock of Gibraltar.