Càdiz/Malaga

So I spent yesterday afternoon and this morning exploring Cádiz, which is a pretty cool little city, different yet again from all the other cities. It´s interesting mostly for its historical significance, and I also loved the fact that occupies a peninsula (or promontory, whatever that is) therefore lots of ocean viewage!!!! =D. Well Cádiz is possibly Europe´s oldest city [I might have mentioned that in last blog, not sure] so it´s been inhabited by Phoenicans, Romans, Christians... probably more. It was an important port and commercial centre during the years of the Spanish Empire, when all the riches were coming in from the South American colonies. Also, Cádiz is where Spain´s first liberal constitution was proclaimed, at the end of the Napoleonic war in 1812. In terms of wandering the city [which I´ve done a lot of, through all the rain], its all narrow streets and plazas, like any Old Town in Spain, although the streets don´t seem to have quite as much character as in other cities like Madrid and Salamanca. Still pleasant though. Another cool thing about Cadiz is that its got hundreds of towers - so the people [back in the old old days] could watch and moniter ships coming into the port and what not. One of the coolest things I did was to climb up the Cathedral tower (the highest, I think) which had awesomeful 360 degree view above all the rooftops and towers and out to the ocean along with an audioguide of all the monuments and important places that could be seen =)
Oh and the little backpackers I stayed at was totally awesome, especially after the boring hostel in Sevilla. It´s run by an English (judging by his accent) guy aged somewhere between 30-50 (I can never tell!) And it´s a true backpackers!!! It was in a small building in a street just off one of the main plazas: the ground floor had a reception desk, a couple of tables and chairs/couches and a small kitchen - no doors or anything so really open and friendly. Above that were about 3 or 4 levels of bedrooms with a bathroom on each level, and the top level had a patio with hammocks (for summer haha) though i never made it up there. Really friendly people too. There were a whole lot of girls there (mostly German) who had just arrived to start studying at the university there on monday and were apartment hunting etc. AND a Kiwi girl ooohh who has just been traveling around so was cool to talk to her.

Now I´m in Malaga. It´s a city (I think the 2nd largest in Andalucía, after Sevilla) at the end of the `Costa del Sol´(Sunny Coast), though it´s been raining all day lol. Although from what I´ve seen so far (not a lot), it´s a nice city, and the tree-lined streets are lovely to walk through, it is however just a city, and not one that I had originally planned to stay in. Theres really only a couple of things I particularly want to see here, and I´ve got 3 nights, so I´m planning some daytrips =). The hostel is pretty much the same as in Sevilla, a big place that seems more aimed at large groups than individual travellers. Maybe this is something I should have picked up on when I booked them but hey. Once again there´s no kitchen, only a dining room for meals which the hostel cooks. So I can pay 8€ for hostel dinner, probably amongst uniformed Spanish teenagers, or i can have bread rolls or similar in my room again. I reckon I´ll go for the latter. I have a feeling that the hostels in Granada and Cordoba (next stops) will be similar, I´m about to have a look at the REAJ (Spanish youth hostel network, equivalent to YHA NZ) page to see, and I´m very tempted to cancel my bookings there and look for other non Hostelling International backpackers in those cities, which might even be more central - handy. The one here is about 20 -30 minutes walk from the centre of town, though its a bit closer the the bus and train stations.

Gonna see if I can post some photos after this - I tried in Sevilla but the computer I was on didnt seem to want to upload them to the blogger site - fingers crossed it´ll go here. Silly me didnt bring my camera connection cable, so I can´t get the new ones off camera but oh well.

xoxoxox