The White City

A borderland, forever contested between Iberians and Arabs, this white province of southern Spain has everything a traveller needs to relax. The immaculate whiteness of its streets, an architecture of closed little balconies, flowered squares, cool, tangled alleys, good wine, good food, a beautiful sea, lots of sun and the carefree joy of this corner of Spain. From the very white and sparkling Cadiz, with its mammoth cathedral, the orange trees with their Mediterranean scent and the night-time bustle of its people, down to Tarifa... the last Spanish outpost, conquered by King Sancho IV Guzmàn in 1292 but which effectively became "Castilian" only later. Tarifa is the centre of the last Iberian hippies, also very white and wonderfully preserved. From the viewpoint of the Castle of Guzmàn you can make out the peaks of the Atlas mountains, Morocco...

down there, Africa, just as Santiago, the magical, mythical character of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, saw it. Finally you head back north, crossing the Bay of Cadiz to reach Puerto de Santa María, home to the mega sherry-wine "bodegas" for which Cadiz and Jerez are so famous, and to the Osborne factory with its unmistakable metal bull, icon and symbol of a region and an entire country during the last twenty years. From here, from the Plaza de las Galeras Reales in Puerto, Christopher Columbus set sail on his voyages, the second and the fourth. Here the famous Santa María was built, the ship of José de Cosa, Columbus's inseparable companion, bound for the New World. Here in Puerto everything has a sort of déjà-vu effect... the architecture is that of San José de Costa Rica, of Lima, of Bogotá, of Santo Domingo...

incredible how the familiar architectural model was transplanted unchanged to the cities of the New Continent, with no apparent difference. From here Columbus's adventure began, but from here too started the golden era of this poor, futureless region... it was a flash in the pan, of course, but precisely for that reason it is remembered, visited and loved..

Have a good trip.. Andrea