SPAIN

WEDNESDAY - January 28th, 2009

HOLA ESPANIA!!!! I am awaken at 8 o clock with the announcement of our arrival. I run outside and am greeted by the beautiful southern Spanish coastline. Finally we have hit land! Its been over a week of sailing! I meet up with the group I will be traveling Spain with and we walk down the gangway. That first step on the ground was indescribable. I couldn't believe it! I am finally in Europe for the first time. The port city we have been docked in is called Cadiz. It is the oldest city in Spain and where I will be spending my first day and night in Spain. The first thing we do is walk straight towards the center of town. We stop at the first cafe we see. I order a "cafe con leche" (latte) and a breakfast sandwich with eggs, steak, sausage and peppers. That coffee was one of the best coffees I have ever had in my entire life, simply amazing. The sandwich was equally as good. After one of the best breakfast's of my life, the crew gathers and we continue in the direction of the center. We stop on the way at an ATM and take out some Euros. Cadiz is so cool. The old and unique alleyways are everywhere you look and I the structure of the buildings is incredible. I am falling in love with this small town already.. We wander for several more hours, stumbling on an incredible park with extensive trimmed hedges, and then too an amazing castle over looking a beautiful beach with several water breached boats scattered across the reef. The castle was quite amazing, constructed in early 1500's, it is one the oldest places i been in my life. This castle is one of several in Cadiz, as I found that Cadiz was a very strategic port for spain in earlier centuries. After wandering the outskirts of the city for several hours we all agreed it was time for a real meal, Espaniol Styleee brahhh. We stumbled across this restaurant that of course wasn't serving lunch yet because in Spain they eat at very different times then in America. Lunch is supposed to be eaten at 3-5 but we were an hour or so too early. This didn't bother the owner as he quickly opened up his doors and started up the kitchen for us. The only girl in the group that spoke decent spanish was Jane who tried to communicate and order us a feast. The first and most important word I learned was Cervases (beer). The feast jane ordered was indeed a feast. An array of fried seafood. Some of the best fried fish and calamari I have ever tried. We also order octopus (pulpos) and wow that was some damn good tako yo. After the mass amounts of food and beer, we were all stuffed and very happy. Spain was incredible! It was growing more and more on me by the minute. Everyone in Cadiz is sooo nice! After we finished eating we kept on exploring only to stumble on the highlight and the main thing I wanted to see while in Cadiz. The New Cathedral of Cadiz which dates back to the early 1700's. The cathedral was really something else, just amazing architecture. It pillars towered into the sky overlooking the city below. We decided to stop at a local bar just out side the cathedral to have a celebration shot before exploring further. In the bar we met a bunch of Spanish guys that spoke "some" english. It was awesome, they started buying us shots of the local spanish liquor and we did the same.

STILL WORKING ON FINISHING SPAIN

THURSDAY - January 29th, 2009

FRIDAY - January 30th, 2009

SATURDAY - January 31st, 2009