Cadiz, Utrera and Sevilla (02.05. - 10.05.19)

After finally finding a parking spot in Cadiz, we started our city tour. First, we strolled through the streets to the tourist information office and bought a city map for €1. From the information, we learned that we were in the oldest city in Western Europe. The many old castles confirmed this. One of them had a small flea market for surfing equipment, where we spent some time. The sellers all looked like enthusiastic surfers with their blonde, slightly longer hair and sun-tanned skin.

Cadiz also has a beautiful park with trees so thick that it would take about 12 people to hug them. We also visited the Museum of Cadiz, where we learned more about the history of the city, saw old coins, and were overwhelmed by beautiful and unidentifiable art. We ended our day in Cadiz with two scoops of ice cream, each as big as four.

To avoid spending the night in a crowded parking lot in the middle of the city, we drove to a beautiful lake near Utrera on the same day. Unfortunately, swimming was not allowed there due to contamination caused by fertilizers and pesticides from the surrounding fields, as explained by a Spaniard. It's sad that they can't grow without the use of chemicals, which would benefit the plants, animals, and groundwater. Nevertheless, we had a great time there. During the day, we picked mulberries to dry, and in the evenings, we made a campfire right by the lake and toasted bread.

After a few days, it was time for another city tour. This time: Seville. In my opinion, this city, along with Valencia and Barcelona, is one of the most beautiful Spanish cities I have seen so far. We parked our camper van in a motorhome parking lot in the morning, from which we could reach Seville by bus within 20 minutes. We walked almost the entire city on foot. We noticed the many well-dressed people and sometimes felt a bit underdressed among the men in suits and the women in elegant dresses. We suspect that the people were celebrating a holiday, but we couldn't find out for sure. Among other things, we visited a park in Seville with lots of fountains. There was also a large fountain on the Plaza de Espãna, a huge square surrounded by a semi-circular building. The diameter of the semi-circle is 200m, and the square has an incredible 31,000m2 of open space. The horse carriages going round the fountain in the middle of the square made it feel like there were no cars yet.

As we walked back to the bus stop along the river, we treated ourselves to an iced coffee along the way and then returned to the parking lot. When we arrived, we heard a cat meowing loudly. When we saw the little kitten, we immediately fell in love with it. We were told that it had been meowing all night and probably lost its mother. Unfortunately, our attempt to catch it and take care of it failed. We hope that the little one will survive without its mother.

Now we have arrived at a beautiful lake and are enjoying the nice weather under eucalyptus trees.