Cadiz & El Puerto de Santa Maria

I took the advice of the campsite at Seville and made for Puerto Santa Maria. The plan is to take the ferry to Cadiz to watch the tennis and football.

Santa Maria is a bustling tourist destination with a big campsite. First off I was not impressed with being charged for two spots for my van and trailer! Euro 54, the last stop was Euro 19 including hook-up. Should have complained at the time, left me irritated for the big day.

I was told the ferry was a 10min walk and was given a very crude map that totally misrepresented the position of the campsite, beach and ferry. The campsite was on the beach, the ferry on the river estuary. I started down the estuary only to find the road closed and had to go back and take another road into town. Unusually I'd left plenty of time even stopping in a bar opposite the ferry. I had intending taking the 12:45 but the ticket office pointed out it was already 13:30! The clocks, the clocks, of course, I was in Spain, an hour in front of Portugal, I got the 14:15 so would miss some of the men's Wimbledon final.

The crossing was 30min and we docked alongside a private yacht bigger than the ferry itself. Off into town past many many bars and restaurants. I started to check out for those showing the tennis, not one! It's a big day for Spain, Alcaraz at Wimbledon followed by the Euro footee final. I asked for sports bars and someone directed me to O'Connell's, that should good. Apart from the place being empty, the Spanish were apparently unaware of Wimbledon. I tried a few more bars until someone pointed out the tennis was on a pay-to-view channel. I found a nice quiet hotel and had a good lunch watching on my phone.

The narrow streets in Cadiz shade the sun and everyone is out for lunch.

I caught the ferry back in good time and went in search of somewhere to watch. The town square was crowded with a big screen but a found a spot in the bar next door. The rest is history. The Spanish were very polite, shook my hand lo sient0, meyor suerte la proxima vez