So, since I was in Andalucia once again for Carnaval my friend and I decided that we’re going to go to the infamous Cadiz to celebrate Carnaval. We had a puente last weekend, from Feb 28-Mar 3 so we took advantage of the extra Monday off and took off to Cadiz. Now, if you don’t know what Carnaval is, think Mardi Gras in Spain, but add costumes like Halloween and people singing songs in the street. It’s basically right up there with celebrations to witness like Carnaval in Brazil. So people get all dressed up all day long and then start drinking in the streets while groups of singers walk around town singing what are called Chirigotas. They are usually songs that make fun of political figures and political situations in Spain, or make fun of foreigners or any other aspect of life that could be made funny, and occasionally they are romantic songs, although not usually.
So, Camille and I arrived on Thursday afternoon and spent all day Friday looking around and exploring the city before it turned into the crazy place it is on the weekend. The weather was gorgeous so we walked around the city, visited the camara oscura, which is a big mirror that they place on top of a tower and then from the inside you can see the inverted image of the town. You can get a 360 degree view of the city just from inside and it’s very interesting. Then we walked around the edge of the city and went to the beach and saw the two castles/fortresses that there are to see. AND, the two fortresses were free to enter, so we spent very little money.
Saturday, we headed out early to return some things to the store and then went to the court room where they signed the first constitution of Spain in 1812. It was very cool to see and the inside was just as impressive. Now, it’s just a small building that you can enter and read about, but we weren’t allowed photos. Inside there are a number of religious statues an alters and up above they have 3 levels of balconies which were used when they signed the first constitution. It was cool to see the different levels and to see something that is so important to Spain. I guess it’s the same as if we were to go to Independence Hall where we signed the Declaration of Independence. Before the Constitution they always had an absolute monarchy and there was no constitution stating the citizens’ rights, so this was very important for them.
We also went around to see the Cathedral which was very large and the inside was fairly impressive, but it wasn’t the most impressive cities I’ve seen in Spain. Idk if I’ve been desensitized or if Cadiz is just underwhelming for me, but it was only an okay Cathedral. It was still nice though and a nice respite from the wind. It was very windy while we were there so it got tiring to walk in the wind all the time. Once we walked outside the Cathedral though is when we noticed that the festivities were beginning for Carnaval. What gave it away? Well, that would be the people that began to gather around the stairs of the Cathedral in their costumes with their big liters of beer in plastic bags and other assorted drinks. That was at around 3pm and by the time we came back to the Cathedral at around 6 for dinner the crowd was much bigger and someone has even brought speakers and was blasting music!
Afterwards, we just grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hostel to get ready for our fun night full of Carnival! We got all dressed up and went out on the town! And by that, I mean we didn’t get farther than two plazas (10 min) away from our hostel. haha. Turns out the streets were so full of people we could hardly move, much less find our way to where we wanted to go. We were staying right down the street from a main plaza where they were having performances of Chirigotas that performed the night before. So we ended up staying there and listening to the performances, stopping at our apartment to use the bathroom and heading back out into the fray to listen some more and see what people were doing. Really, people were just listening and drinking, and playing with our costumes because we were wearing headbands with bobbing pom poms on them, turns out, when people drink our heads turn into human cat toys….so people were playing with them all night, taking them off our head, and one guy even tried to eat mine….yea….idk. Either way it was a very entertaining evening. We went out at around midnight and got back to the hostel by about 3…yea, that was quite an early night for us, but we could hardly move and we were tired. So we crashed around 3 even though the party didn’t stop till about 8AM. I slept with a pillow on my head and my headphones in. It was worth it though, because it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, and it was really fun to see the Spanish all dressed up. Some people got really into it and there were large groups of people dressed the same. We saw lots of NYPD, and roman soldiers. We saw an assortment of different costumes, but if you didn’t have an actual costume then if you throw on a wig or a skirt then you’re all set. As long as you’re not dressed like a normal person you can pass for celebrating Carnaval the right way.
Sunday we stayed in and went to lunch and even found a couple of the Chritigota groups that were performing on the street. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the city staying away from the large crowds. We had had enough of the crowds of people, and smelly streets so we stuck to the outskirts and explored the park and took in the view of the water from the edge of town. It was a very nice day, we just relaxed and ended up having dinner at a nice place around the corner from where we were staying and the waiter gave us a free drink, (alcohol free of course, the house can’t lose too much money) and we made it back for our nice. We went to bed on the earlier side since it was quiet for once and I had to get up for an 8:30AM train back to Huelva. Overall, it was a nice weekend, not as relaxing as I wanted, but it was fun to explore the city and experience something so cultural. I don’t need to return for Carnaval, but I did it once now!
Check out the album for the photos, there’s a ton!
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