Inside the ancient walls of a city unlike anywhere else in Europe

Cadiz’s fortune has always been tied to the sea. As one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe, for more than a thousand years the tide has carried explorers, traders, conquerors and crusaders to its port, with each empire reshaping the shore and leaving an indelible mark on the landscape.

Today, Cadiz is connected to the Spanish mainland by a thin strip of land. Step inside the fortified city walls and you’ll find a city unlike anywhere else in Europe, and you see why it was once known as the stone ship.

I’m visiting Cadiz as part of a seven-day rail journey across Andalusia on the Al Andalus luxury train, which features refurbished royal carriages, white-glove service and an exquisite private compartment. At 450 metres, the train is too long to pull into the old city, so we enter on foot via the Arco del Populo, one of three city gates built in medieval times, some 2.6 metres thick in parts.

Cadiz has the distinction of being one of the few places Napoleon could not conquer. From February 1810 to August 1812 he lay siege to it, and the walls held. Centuries of occupation had kept the city’s inhabitants on watch. “Something you don’t realise,” our guide tells us, “until you look up.”

They’re easy to miss among the narrow streets but the city’s unique architectural feature is its watchtowers. More than 160 were built on top of the baroque and Renaissance palaces from the 17th to 18th centuries, allowing merchants, wealthy families and city officials to keep track of their ships, keep an eye on the competition and provide fair warning of any incoming pirates, marauders or invaders.

Estimates vary but more than 100 towers remain, with a few, such as the 18th-century Torre Tavira, open to the public. Another, the Levante Tower, is located in the city’s cathedral but the structure isn’t faring as well – that comes down to a bad choice of building materials.

It’s juicier than a bad room reveal on The Block. The oldest buildings in Cadiz were constructed using oyster stone, complete with layers of fossilised seashells trapped in the bricks. Oyster stone was used as the base for the city’s cathedral, which began construction in 1722. However, as time dragged on and the budget ran out, the upper levels were later completed using local limestone.

The result? A coffee-and-cream two-tone facade that looks like something a kid created with mismatched Lego. Susceptible to salt degradation, today the crumbling limestone interior is netted to protect worshippers (and tourists). When I peek inside, there are a few cricket-ball-sized chunks caught in the net.

While most of my fellow tourists get happily lost in the labyrinth of streets, I head back in time to when the Romans ran the show in Cadiz, ruling when salt from the surrounding marshes was, according to my guide, worth more than gold. However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that archaeologists unearthed one of the greatest archaeological sites in Cadiz: a first-century BC theatre with a capacity for 10,000 spectators.

Today, the cavea and Roman Theatre, accessed through a simple door in the old town, is free to visit. There is a glass floor to the hypogeum that runs below the stage, a fantastic short documentary and a feature on the ancient graffiti found by archaeologists (because, let’s face it, you really have a grudge if you take the time to carve it into stone).

Walking through the subterranean tunnels and up into the 2000-year-old theatre leaves me breathless. A kindergarten overlooks the theatre, and the sound of their play echoes in the round. Judging by the sound, the Romans knew their acoustics.

With the mercury pushing 43 degrees, I retreat, determined to take a dip in the Atlantic. I skip the crowded La Caleta beach and instead head up the 500-metre-long stone causeway towards the Castle of San Sebastian, a watery fortress built in the 1700s. A few people sunbake, fearless teens catapult themselves into the sea and I navigate hand-carved steps to plunge into the blissful, ice-cold water.

At low tide I fossick in the shallows for sea glass. Instead, I find purple marble, green terrazzo and earthy terracotta, building debris tossed away over hundreds of years and tumbled smooth by centuries in the ocean: tiny pieces of Cadiz’s history in the palm of my hand.

THE DETAILS

TOUR
The Al Andalus offers six-night, seven-day luxury train journeys throughout Andalusia from April to October, departing from either Madrid or Seville, and visiting destinations such as Cordoba, Seville and Cadiz. Guests travel in restored 1920s wagons originally used by royalty, and stay in deluxe private train compartments with en suites, all meals and guided tours included. From €11,200 ($19,425) a person (or €13,200/$22,890 for two) in a Grand Class room.
See eltrenalandalus.com

FLY
Virgin Australia flies daily to Madrid via Doha (currently disrupted due conflict in the region). See virginaustralia.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Tourism Espana. See spain.info