CARDIZ WED. JULY 3

            “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”.

That echoes from way back. 1492 was when Christopher Columbus obtained the backing of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in Seville to set out across the Atlantic to look for new worlds.

            So the region of Andalusia in Spain – especially Seville – was forever tied to the discovery of America.  There is a monument in the Cathedral in Seville to honour Columbus though he’s not buried there as it was claimed. He seems to have been buried in a couple of places.

            We were not in Seville today, though many of the ship’s tours were to Seville and the Seville area. We were in Cardiz, facing across the Atlantic Ocean to America. During the night we went through the Straits of Gilbraltar and slipped from the Mediterranean out into the Atlantic Ocean.

            Today we had another adventure. We took the electric scooter off the ship, down the gangway (with some help from crew) and into town. Town was very close and soon we were in a maze of narrow (very narrow) little streets lined with old buildings four or five stories high, with cute little balconies. Some little balconies had flowers and plants, and some were completely enclosed with glass though they were very narrow – only about two feet wide (in the old maths). This wouldn’t have added much to the room inside but may have let in more sun and space for a winter garden?

            There didn’t seem to be any lifts so all buildings were ‘walk up’. The four or five floors were manageable. Some buildings had a wide entranceway with an iron locked gate into a central courtyard with greenery visible. I could also see  spiral steps going up around the courtyard walls.

            Buildings are narrow even where they were shops. Small windows displayed goods: bread, vegies, dresses, stationery. Many shops were deep and lined with shelves of goods. One place was called “Imaginarium” so I explored and found all sorts of brightly coloured children’s toys and books. On one corner there was an ‘Apple’ shop which was larger. It was more square by taking ‘shops’ on each street, and had the usual sort of layout of tables with Apple Macs, iPads and iPhones laid out for hands-on experience.

            There were postcards outside a newsagent’s and I stopped to look at them. The newsagent came out to stand in the sun and chat to a customer leaving. He then spoke to me – in Spanish, of course. I looked vague and said something in English and there ensued a conversation in sign language. He showed me 5 fingers to say postcards were 50c, and two would be “uno Euro” which I understood. Money changed hands. I could tell one Euro, but not 50cents as I mistook 2c for 20 cents and 1 cent for ten cents. That’s what happens when you have a hand full of small unknown coins.

            The man then asked “English?” and when I said “No – Australia” he got very animated. ‘Australia!’ and began to hop like a kangaroo. We had lots of smiles and he told me “TV – Australia!” - smiled, nodded and conveyed he liked what he saw of Australia on TV very much. It was an enjoyable exchange without much common language and ended when he gave me a small 2013 calendar attached to a card that said ‘Cardiz – 3,000 years’ and made a sign for ‘No money. Gift.’

            Bruce was waiting patiently further along the street. That’s how the morning went. Me stopping to look in shop windows and Bruce waiting somewhere ahead. We stopped for coffee at a few tables outside “Chamara Restaurante”. I remembered from somewhere “caffe con leche” meant ‘coffee with milk’ and Bruce went in to order. When he tried “caffe con leche” the man looked at him and said  ‘Black or white?’ He understood that much English better than Bruce’s attempt at Spanish.

            The coffee arrived with two little sweets and we sat there watching the passing parade and enjoying the mild sunshine of just over 20 degrees. As the streets were so narrow and tall there was shade on one side, and pleasant sunshine on the other.  There were lots of older people wandering along and sitting on seats down the centre of the main shopping street, which was traffic free. I was surprise to see several well dressed young women (office types with briefcases) and one young man scooting along through the people on small electric scooters a bit like mine: a very efficient quick way around the city when the streets were so narrow.

            Cardiz has a history lost in antiquity as a trading port. Phoenicians, Catharginians, Romans, Vandals and Visigoths all left signs of their occupation, but the greatest were left by the Moorish invasion in the Sixth Century AD. The Moors left a lasting cultural and physical heritage of their 800 years rule of the area.

            1492 marked the end of Moorish rule when Isabella and Ferdinand captured the citadel of Grenada and established their rule over the area. This was also the year Columbus set out to discover America, and the Jews were expelled from the region.