I intend to spend at least 8 weeks either in Cadiz or Sanlucar de Barrameda staying in a language school. Has anyone recently been to these places? Any suggestions, any pro and con? Or a third place?

I'm grateful for every reply.thank you.

Hi, I was in Cadiz for a day in Feb. 2003 trying to get some sense of this city that many people recommend. The old section (casco antiguo) is pretty nice and attractive to visitors, but in general it is sort of a low-key city with a long and pretty promenade along the bay. I practically saw no tourists although you can tell that given the mild winter climate many of the great apartments along the ocean are occupied by foreigners. I took a few buses to see other parts of the city and most of the new sections were very nondescript (typical high-rises with a pretty punishing architecture) and typical of the modern Spain. I see Cadiz as a nice and safe city to have a place for the American winter if you are retired because of its climate and low key projection plus the beauty of its old section, but it does not seem to project the vivacity of Sevilla even though its Carnival in February is fabulous if you understand Spanish (lots of great satirical songs that forgive no one in public life). I have the feeling that Cadiz may be better if you are trying to learn Sp. as the number of American is smaller than, say Seville. You would get to hear and practice the language a lot more I would venture to say. Hope you get other opinions.

JA

Sanlucar de Barrameda is a great place to visit, but 8 weeks in a language school there would probably get old quickly. One thing you want to consider is the quality of the school. They are not all the same and it may be difficult to check out a very small school. I studied at CLIC in Sevilla and it was top-notch. I met a woman who had studied previously in Cadiz and said it was nice, but a little small after a while. I daytripped there several times and found it enchanting.

It is true that there a a LOT of Americans studying in Sevilla (and Madrid and Barcelona). However, it is a big city and you just have to decide that you are not going to hang with Americans. And it's only one hour from Cadiz!

Jana writes: Maybe if you get a non-stop bus but the (local) train takes an hour and 45-minutes and the regular (COMES) bus takes about 2-hours.

I agree that Sanlucar de Barrameda may be too small (unless you are 'hooked' on the Manzanilla) and that, of the two, Cadiz is probably the better choice - but it depends on the language school also. Sanlucar is closer to Sevilla and Jerez de la frontera although not as 'well connected' (frequency & availability of train & bus) as Cadiz.

If you hurry up you will be able to attend the most popular Spanish carnaval, the Cadiz one, it begins on this Friday!!

Andrés

thank you for your replies. I haven't decided yet. maybe I'm going to spend some weeks at both places.