This weekend, four of us students here at Spark Spanish decided to explore the nearby city of Cádiz- ¡y qué buena idea! Cádiz is a beautiful city, with plenty to see and do – and, claro, lots of opportunities to practise Spanish with the locals. It’s also very convenient to get to, as the ferry (el barco o el ferry) only takes about 30 minutes from El Puerto de Santa María.  ¡Qué fácil es llegar allí!

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the cathedral – la Catédral -, which also features a very high tower – una  torre – from which you can see spectacular views of the city.

Our entrada – ticket – into the cathedral also included a tour of ancient archaeological remains, some of which date back to 1000BC.  There was even a preserved portion of rabbit stew! ¡Qué raro!

También, there are many beautiful plazas – squares – and parques – parks – which are well worth a visit. ¡Vale la pena visitarlos!

Claro, doing all these things was not only a great day trip – it also provided us with ‘una buena oportunidad’ – ‘a great opportunity’ – to practise speaking the Spanish we’ve learned so far in our time here at Spark.

Not only that, but it’s amazing how many new words and phrases you learn even outside of class – for example, I learned that ‘caballa’ is not, as I thought, a female horse – it’s actually the word for mackerel!

Of course, la comida – food –  is an important part of Spanish culture also, and we couldn’t leave Cádiz without trying some delicious ‘tapas’ – and, of course, without taking advantage of another golden opportunity to speak Spanish with natives.

We also took the tour bus – like proper ‘guiris’ – which gave a great view of the city from the top deck.  ¡Qué vistas!

All in all, I would definitely recommend a trip to Cádiz to anyone studying here at Spark Spanish – it’s cheap (barato), it’s easy to get around (facil a navigar), and lot of opportunities to practise your Spanish skills.

¡Vale la pena, vamos!