I think it was before dawn when we arrived in Cadiz, but as it got light the uncrowded harbour came into view, including this:
Is it a high-speed train, a jet plane or what?
No, it's the bridge (cockpit) of one of the world's most expensive & luxurious super-yachts: Yas. Estimated to have cost about $1 billion, it was finished in 2015 having been converted from an ex Dutch Kortenaer-class Navy frigate (originally named Piet Hein ~1980) and is owned by Hamdan bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the UAE. Up to 60 guests can be accommodated and looked after by a similar number of crew.
With a helicopter landing pad towards the back, not to mention an aft section that features facilities for 'water toys' (jet skis etc), at night it can look like this:
It's only the world's 8th longest super-yacht, but far and away the loveliest (IMHO).
Having finished drooling over this we looked around Cadiz which was (mostly) very clean and pleasant. We stumbled across the Parque Genoves to start with which was really nice and had all sorts of impressive examples of trees and plants, including this interesting one which is popular as a house-plant, the rubber plant (ficus elastica):
To say it is big is something of an understatement ....
I would have needed my fisheye lens to get the whole plant in!
Elsewhere in the park were plenty of orange trees laden with fruit, annoyingly just out of reach ....
and a small pond with various birds, not all as attractive as some others ....
This one wheeling over the sea nearby was, I felt, a bit more elegant ...
Exploring further we found the Tavira Tower or Torre Tavira which has a camera obscura, an optical device which has been in use for hundreds of years and quite possibly very much longer.
For the very reasonable price of €5 we got plenty of exercise climbing what felt like several hundred stairs to see the excellent views from the top of the tower:
Cadiz Cathedral
Someone's nice roof garden
and other historic churches etc ...
But the best was yet to come, after enjoying the rooftop views, about 15 people gathered around a curious shallow white bowl about 4' across.
above which was a large octagonal hole in the ceiling ....
Then the door was closed, the lights dimmed until it was completely dark and various shutters opened in the ceiling to reveal a projection of the view from a periscope like device above the viewing platform we'd been on earlier. Cameras were banned at this point, though it would probably have difficult to get anything usable due to the low light levels.
Our young lady projectionist described the scenes of Cadiz which appeared on the white bowl we were gathered around, in both Spanish and excellent English, whilst moving the lenses/mirrors above to show both distant objects and surprisingly close vistas including shoppers in the streets below. A nice break from wandering the busy streets.
In due course we returned to our comfortable ship for the three day return up the coast of Portugal, across the Bay of Biscay and up the English Channel to Dover and the long drive home.
A nice view of an impressive new bridge as we left:
Is it a high-speed train, a jet plane or what?
No, it's the bridge (cockpit) of one of the world's most expensive & luxurious super-yachts: Yas. Estimated to have cost about $1 billion, it was finished in 2015 having been converted from an ex Dutch Kortenaer-class Navy frigate (originally named Piet Hein ~1980) and is owned by Hamdan bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the UAE. Up to 60 guests can be accommodated and looked after by a similar number of crew.
With a helicopter landing pad towards the back, not to mention an aft section that features facilities for 'water toys' (jet skis etc), at night it can look like this:
It's only the world's 8th longest super-yacht, but far and away the loveliest (IMHO).
Having finished drooling over this we looked around Cadiz which was (mostly) very clean and pleasant. We stumbled across the Parque Genoves to start with which was really nice and had all sorts of impressive examples of trees and plants, including this interesting one which is popular as a house-plant, the rubber plant (ficus elastica):
To say it is big is something of an understatement ....
I would have needed my fisheye lens to get the whole plant in!
Elsewhere in the park were plenty of orange trees laden with fruit, annoyingly just out of reach ....
and a small pond with various birds, not all as attractive as some others ....
This one wheeling over the sea nearby was, I felt, a bit more elegant ...
Exploring further we found the Tavira Tower or Torre Tavira which has a camera obscura, an optical device which has been in use for hundreds of years and quite possibly very much longer.
For the very reasonable price of €5 we got plenty of exercise climbing what felt like several hundred stairs to see the excellent views from the top of the tower:
Cadiz Cathedral
Someone's nice roof garden
and other historic churches etc ...
But the best was yet to come, after enjoying the rooftop views, about 15 people gathered around a curious shallow white bowl about 4' across.
above which was a large octagonal hole in the ceiling ....
Then the door was closed, the lights dimmed until it was completely dark and various shutters opened in the ceiling to reveal a projection of the view from a periscope like device above the viewing platform we'd been on earlier. Cameras were banned at this point, though it would probably have difficult to get anything usable due to the low light levels.
Our young lady projectionist described the scenes of Cadiz which appeared on the white bowl we were gathered around, in both Spanish and excellent English, whilst moving the lenses/mirrors above to show both distant objects and surprisingly close vistas including shoppers in the streets below. A nice break from wandering the busy streets.
In due course we returned to our comfortable ship for the three day return up the coast of Portugal, across the Bay of Biscay and up the English Channel to Dover and the long drive home.
A nice view of an impressive new bridge as we left:
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