Falling in Love Again!

You know that funny feeling you have inside you when you fall in love. It's a magical moment when your heart races like a galloping horse and your stomach somersaults like an Olympic gymnast... you only think this happens to you once or at the most twice in your life... on this maiden holiday, I had fallen head over heels no less than four times and each time with a different town or city... if these were all men then I would unashamedly be having several affairs and devouring every moment. Could it therefore be possible that at our next port of call, I could feel the same fuzzy feeling again?

As we entered Cádiz, it felt like we had come from the top of the world to the end of the world. My first impression: Cádiz is Like a pure white mermaid basking in the shimmering sun, wallowing in the warm waters of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, Cádiz is simply enrapturing. It was only recently, I found out that Lord Byron had christened it as "Sirena del Oceano" referring to a beautiful mermaid, a curvaceous creature looking out to sea. There is an Atlantis feel about Cadiz except that it proudly and victoriously stands above the water. Like a Beefeater majestically guarding the queen of England, Cádiz Cathedral is so strategically situated at the head of the city and at the edge of the Atlantic, it is an omnipotent edifice: a cathedral, a lighthouse, a fortress and a castle all rolled into one, protecting the city, its people and their prized possessions. With its silvery white walls, its fusion of baroque-rococo-neoclassical styles and its gleaming golden domes, this iconic landmark is stamped in my memory forever.

As we walked through the sea of white houses, we found another popular plaza full of small, quaint bars with their al-fresco seating on the square. As we sat and drank our caña (beer) and ate our oily olives, a wedding party rejoiced as newly weds floated out of the local church, almost as if they were literally on cloud nine! I watched the bride in her immaculately white meringue-style dress, beaming with joy at her husband, excited about the future that lay ahead... and I wished I could have my wedding day again (with Ketan of course), here in Cádiz. I closed my eyes and envisaged myself in an elegantly, flowing, fitted snow white gown, gliding out of Cádiz cathedral, hand in hand with Ketan, suited and booted. We were laughing and crying with joy at the same time; we danced all night on the silvery sand, later swam in the turquoise ocean and spent our first night together under the starry skies of Cádiz's Costa de la Luz. I smiled as I thought how happy I was...I could feel my heart racing and my stomaching doing back flips and I knew I was in love again.

As we drove away from Cadiz, I knew it was not adios but hasta luego.