Cadiz

Founded by Phoenician traders around 1100 BC as Gadir — making it a contender for the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe — Cádiz juts into the Atlantic on a narrow peninsula, its honey-colored ramparts and watchtowers still guarding the approaches as they did when Columbus set sail from here on his second and fourth voyages to the New World. This is a city layered with three millennia of history: Carthaginian, Roman, Moorish, and finally the proud Gaditano spirit that produced Spain's first liberal constitution in 1812.

The old quarter is an intoxicating labyrinth of narrow lanes, hidden plazas, and baroque churches whose bell towers frame improbable slices of Atlantic blue. The Tavira Tower, the city's tallest watchtower, houses a camera obscura that projects a luminous, real-time panorama of rooftops, harbor, and coastline onto a concave screen — a device that feels both ancient and magical. Cádiz's beaches are its other great asset: La Caleta, a sheltered crescent wedged between the twin fortresses of San Sebastián and Santa Catalina, has the warm, salt-scented atmosphere of a village beach despite sitting at the heart of a city of 120,000.

Gaditano cuisine is inseparable from the sea. The city practically invented the art of frying fish — pescaíto frito, served in paper cones at freidurías throughout the old town, is an edible emblem of Cádiz, featuring cazón en adobo (marinated dogfish), chocos (cuttlefish), and boquerones (anchovies) in a featherlight batter. At the Mercado Central de Abastos, vendors shuck oysters and slice mojama (salt-cured tuna loin) — an ancient delicacy the Phoenicians likely knew — while nearby bars pour manzanilla sherry so bone-dry it seems to carry the Atlantic breeze in every sip. Tortillitas de camarones, lacy shrimp fritters, are another Cádiz invention that has conquered all of Andalusia.

Excursions from the port are rich with possibility. Jerez de la Frontera, just thirty minutes northeast, offers sherry bodega tours — González Byass's Tío Pepe cellars and the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, where Carthusian horses perform balletic displays, are highlights. The white villages of the Sierra de Grazalema lie an hour east, offering hiking through Spain's rainiest corner. Seville, the Andalusian capital with its Alcázar and cathedral, is ninety minutes by train — close enough for a rewarding day trip.

Cádiz is one of the western Mediterranean's busiest cruise ports, drawing vessels from an extraordinary breadth of lines: AIDA, Ambassador Cruise Line, Aurora Expeditions, Azamara, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Disney Cruise Line, Emerald Yacht Cruises, Explora Journeys, Explorations by Norwegian, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America Line, Marella Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Saga Ocean Cruises, Seabourn, Silversea, TUI Cruises Mein Schiff, Vidanta Cruises, Viking, Virgin Voyages, and Windstar Cruises. The port sits near Mahón, Arrecife, and the Canary Islands. Spring and autumn — April through June and September through November — offer the most comfortable weather, with warm sunshine and fewer crowds than the searing summer months.