Made in Spain

25. Cadiz, Flamenco, And The Atlantic

• Made in Spain • Season 5 • Episode 1

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The Atlantic changes everything. Drive across the vast bridge into Cadiz and the city tightens around you: lanes narrow, façades lean in, and the wind smells like old voyages and fresh salt. We set out to understand why this port at the edge of Spain feels so singular, and found answers in history, humour, and a cave that sings.

Cadiz claims the mantle of Western Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited city, a Phoenician outpost older than Rome where Columbus launched two voyages and a gold-domed cathedral once guided sailors home. Gaditanos learned to laugh sharp and loud; their carnival favours satire over glitter, scoring the news with bite and melody. The sea feeds a daily ritual too: anglers posted along the promenade, rods bowed to Atlantic depth, and a local devotion to red tuna that borders on religion. The beaches are wilder here, the dunes higher, the water colder, and the horizon points straight to North Africa.

The heart of our journey beats underground at La Cueva del Pájaro Azul. Tucked beneath the Barrio del Pópulo, this former Phoenician shipyard is now an intimate tablao where flamenco unfolds with no microphones and no distance. A singer’s cry, a guitarist’s pulse, palms clapping, heels carving rhythm into wood: the room compresses sound into something raw and immediate. We trace the cave’s story from shipbuilders to smugglers to a mid-century golden era that drew legends, and we talk duende in the only place it truly makes sense—close enough to feel the air shift when the dancer turns.

This trip stretches further than a map suggests. Andalusia grows avocados and even mangoes now; Jerez’s horses step like drums; Madrid’s Time Warp festival pounds hard techno through IFEMA till dawn. Tradition and modern energy share a charge: precision, surrender, and the thrill of a room moving as one. If Cadiz is on your list, give it time: walk the old town, watch the fishermen, eat tuna two ways, find the cave, and let the Atlantic wind write the rest. Enjoy the journey south with us, and if you loved this, tap follow, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review!

SPEAKER_01:

This episode of the Maiden Spain podcast is powered by GoCo Energy. Clean natural energy for life at the speed of go.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome everyone. Maid in Spain podcast season five. Who would have thought? We did.

SPEAKER_02:

That's why we're here.

SPEAKER_03:

My name is Laura Senior Garcia. I'm Nalini Sharma. And yeah, we this has been our journey. We're into season five. We've uh sort of we've gone south quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, and we're gonna continue to go south, and then we'll take a big U-turn and go north at some point. This country has a lot to offer.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh. I and we're just scratching the surface. Um, we're gonna start today with the town of Cadiz.

SPEAKER_01:

So we have today's episode is Cadiz and the Art of Flamenco.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, and that's gonna be very interesting. So please stay with us on this journey south.

SPEAKER_01:

Stay with us on the journey south, and I would like to say, if you don't follow us already, if you happen to land on this season five, episode one, by some magical way and you haven't heard the other seasons, uh, I think you're gonna have a lot of interesting episodes to listen to. Uh, you can start here, you know, there's no beginning or end, but at the same time, I think you're gonna be really interested to listen to some of our earlier episodes on different parts of Spain. So please, please, please, if you don't follow us already, hit follow, subscribe. All the things that you know to do. If you're a podcast follower, it makes a tremendous difference to what we can do with this project. Also, if you can recommend us to other people, if you like the podcast, yeah, please do. If you'd like to leave a rating, we very, very much appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03:

Absolutely. All right, let's get into our trip to Cadiz. Um, it is, I will say, from where we are, which is close to Alicante, if you understand just the you know basic geography of Spain, we are in the southwest and you have to go, sorry, we're in the southeast and you have to go to the southwest, which common sense would dictate that you could fly directly from Alicante to Sevilla and then trek from there. However, that is not the case. You have to fly either to fly, train um, either to Madrid or Barcelona or Valencia and then fly in back. You have to go in the opposite direction to get back, or you could drive to Sevilla, which from where we are is six plus hours. Um yeah, it's a it's a drive.

SPEAKER_01:

So and to Calais is another hour and a half.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

So you're looking at from here to Cádiz, it's almost eight hours and a half.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's a big drive. I mean, if we drove in the opposite direction, you would be in France.

SPEAKER_01:

But Nelini did say something very interesting when we were there. It's like a lot of people apparently go like Alicante, Morocco, and then take the ferry.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. Because you can, I think it's possible to sort of see across not quite, but it's close enough that people, I think they do that.

SPEAKER_01:

Of course, yeah. So if you think about it, so first of all, we're going to Cádiz. Normally, most of our time has been spent on the Med. Cádiz is on the Atlantic Ocean. Right. Very close to Gibraltar, which I am not getting a lot of momentum and trying to convince people to go to Gibraltar, but I do want to go. Yeah. It's a very odd place. You know, like basically monkeys, and it's a you know, UK part of the UK at the tippy tippy tip of Spain, which is.

SPEAKER_03:

What do you mean there's monkeys?

SPEAKER_01:

There's monkeys everywhere. In Gibraltar? In Gibraltar. Why? I don't know. But these monkeys are absolutely everywhere, and they're pretty aggressive as well. Okay, I'm not going.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh no, I shouldn't have said it. I'm not going. I don't understand.

SPEAKER_01:

What is with monkeys? They're like those um, I'll show you after we finish the recording of our episode of.

SPEAKER_03:

Everywhere.

SPEAKER_01:

It's really funny. And I seen this guy, sorry, we're gonna just go off one second and then we'll go back to Cathy, but I seen this guy on social media that I thought was the most hilarious thing ever. Because there's a huge debate whether, like, oh, you know, like we shouldn't have given Gibraltar to the British and blah blah blah. There's a lot of Spanish people who feel very strongly about it. Well, if they have monkeys, they can keep it. Yeah. Well, this guy is walking around with like pictures of the royal family and going like this to the monkeys. This is your real king, you know. And I'm like, and the monkey looking at him like, what are you talking about, man? But I thought, anyway, that was really funny. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

So Cadiz. All right, so it is the um longest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe. I mean, it's just a really long way of saying it's one of the oldest cities in Europe that has been inhabited, and therefore one of the oldest cities in the world. Exactly. Founded by the Phoenicians, it's older than Rome, apparently.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because I'm looking here, 1100 years before Christ.

SPEAKER_03:

So older than Rome. Um, officially prior to being called uh Cadiz C A D I Z, it was Gadir, which is spelled G-A-D-I-R. Is that correct? Yep, G-A-D-I-R. Okay, so this is really cute. I thought, um, do you know what you call locals from Cadiz? Gaditanos. Yeah. I was like, yeah, I was like, that's it. I never realized that. Yeah, that's what's why that's why, because that was the original name of the city. So you have to look at when you look at a country like Spain, it has been ruled and fought over, has internal fighting for so many years that there's so much, I think, just transference of whether it's the culture or the language, cities have changed hands, they've changed names. Um, there were, you know, for a period of time, part of Spain was occupied by France. Yes. Cadies was the uh a stronghold that was still under Spanish rule. So there's a very deep history there. But where Cadies is located, first of all, you cross over this um quite dramatic bridge.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, it's huge. Um that's one thing that you know I hadn't actually been there before this time.

SPEAKER_03:

And by the way, I kind of do feel like we need to go back at some point because we never got to the beaches because it was a very kind of like fast, you know, very um whirlwind 48 hours, which I think I feel we could write an article or something for conde nast, but I mean really a whirlwind 48 hours in Caddies, but it is a port city, and you can see it from the way that it is built, uh the you know, the infrastructure of it. Um as you drive into the city, as you drive into it, so you go over this massive, very modern-looking bridge, and then you are into Caddies. But because it's so old, it is such an old, ancient city, the streets are so narrow. It's I mean, it's unbelievable actually that you when you look up, right? When you look up, I mean, it's if you're claustrophobic, uh, you might have trouble in these streets. If you're looking at the city.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Because it is true that the streets are Nalini pointed out, we were saying at an apartment downtown that if you open the window, like it is violently close to your neighbor.

SPEAKER_03:

Your neighbor. Thank goodness you we didn't have neighbors that the particular nights we were there. However, if we did, you could easily throw them something from your window. Oh, you need salt. Here you go. So it is a port town, and because of that, it has a you know sort of a maritime history. Christopher Columbus, on two of his uh voyages, sailed from the Bay of Cadiz. Um, it is also where the first Spanish constitution was signed. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, so in the early 1800s, that's where because the Spain controlled that part of its country while uh the French were still occupying other parts of Spanish territory. So I think that's I mean, when you drive into the city and you see it, it's just very I would say it's just so dramatic because the Bay of Cadiz goes flows into the Atlantic.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's this And you can see it.

SPEAKER_03:

You can see it. It's this dark kind of, you know, it's just so vast, but so beautiful at the same time. And then as we were standing looking out at the you know, the view, we looked on the phone, of course, to see our location. And when you actually see where you are, you're in front of North Africa, right? You're so far down there. So I think being isolated, um, actually the word uh gadir translates into enclosed area. Yeah, so it's a Phoenician for walled city, right? Right. One of the landmarks there, they have the uh the cathedral, which took over a hundred uh almost well, technically 116 years-ish to be completed. And the town of Cadiz was in a competition with Sevilla to see who could build the nicest, most beautiful cathedral, and the dome is gold because it served as a beacon for sailors returning so that they would be able to see with the sun reflecting over it that oh okay, we're close to home.

SPEAKER_01:

So much history, and I I have to say we are going to cover Sevilla in another episode because we feel it deserves its own spotlight. Yes, but we did want to focus on on Cadith or Gadir, you know, with the with the Phoenician history. But when you walk around Cadiz, you can feel it's different. I don't know how to explain it, but one of the things we saw is that you know they have a very famous carnival there, but it's not a carnival like other carnivals, yeah. It's more focused on humor and satire.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

So the Cadith Carnival is all about wit and satire and lyrical bite, and it's in the same way. They compete like against each other.

SPEAKER_03:

In April?

SPEAKER_01:

It's the same, it's the same. Okay, like the carnival is the same as like other carnivals happening around Spain, etc. Same date, but the focus is a little bit different. Okay, so they are they do more of these like little satirical, you know. So I know I think it was like the one last year or the year before last, they did a whole float on um Shakira breaking up with Pique or something, and they had like a whole little song on it, and you know, all these guys like dress the Shakira, and it was pretty funny. But they they every year there's like a competition to see who has this best like satirical spectacle at the at the carnival. But it's very unique. And if you think about it, like you said, Port Town, all the history, all the influence. I think people from there in general are a little bit different, like they're a bit unique.

SPEAKER_03:

It is first of all, I mean, it is just a it's just a unique place to go. It is isolated in that you really have to make an effort to get there. Like you gotta drive over the bridge to get there. It's not like Sevilla or you know No, you really have to make an effort to get there. But once you're there, you're sort of in in really this enclosed city. It is so tight, it's so close. But they I I also feel that everybody must know everybody. It would be impossible not to. Also in that old town area.

SPEAKER_01:

The driving is not for the faint of hearted because if you're driving a car in those streets, and by the way, people somehow do they manage to we did, yeah. But I mean, like some of these turns, you know, are like you know, I think you have to kind of be a little bit uh used to it, you could say, yeah, and brave, yeah, brave because it's uh forward, back, forward, back forward just to make a right turn. So I think one of the things that actually really stood out to us as we drove into the city that's worth mentioning is the amount of people with big fishing rods. Yes, who were basically imagine like where you walk the promenade near a beach or something, right? Or near the port, and you have just someone just standing there with a massive fishing rod, almost looks like a professional uh fishing rod.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm pretty sure they're catching big fish.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so tuna is like the It's like a religion there. Yes, everything to do with like tuna tartar, the red tuna, that really high quality, lovely, actually delicious, delicious red tuna. Uh so I think a lot of people were just fishing. It's like, oh, you finish work and it's like oh I'm gonna go check if I can fish for a tuna. Because I mean, you know, people hear fish, but they it's almost like a joke when you see like the little rods and stuff. There, it's like it's a different story.

SPEAKER_03:

There, it's they're getting Atlantic cold water fish. So they're and you can see we saw a guy, we didn't see what he had, but we saw his rod, and it's like I was like, Oh, that must be a big one that he got. He was struggling, you could see it for sure. We just had a lot to sort of walk around, see, and do, but I would say Caddy's is a good, I mean, you can spend definitely a long weekend there if you're traveling.

SPEAKER_01:

But again, if you're going beach, because they do have the if they do have like, you know, in the 50s they used to talk about, you know, the best beaches in Spain. Again, it's a different kind of beach. Right. For those who like the beach, it is a very different kind of beach because it's not obviously the water's cooler, right? The beaches are more like wild, you know, like sand dunes, there's a lot of things. Sure, there's surfing, yeah, and even sand dune surfing, it's a different story. You're not talking about like the beaches in the Costa Blanca, which is more your kind of like the water is so calm that it's almost like you're sitting next to a lake. Yeah. So it's very, very different. So I would definitely say if you're one of these, you know, kind of more beach person, you're looking more at a week's trip than a weekend. And then also there's some great golf down there.

SPEAKER_03:

So for people who want to go golfing, some of the best golf courses in the country are while Cadys was uh, you know, a quite a successful uh over time, you know, the history of the city was very successful, had a lot of money, a port town. Anytime that you have access to open water, a city with is typically going to have a lot of money. But what happened is that when Spain started to lose its colonies in South America, the city started to lose its trade and then had a slow decline. And apparently there was a huge explosion, I think, in the late 40s, at an um an ammunition. No way, yeah, because again, a port city, they had uh military bases there, and the explosion and the fires and the ensuing damage from that really had a huge impact on the city, and then when you look at where it is, it is isolated. So you just think from a common sense perspective, you really have to make a point to get there and to be there. But it seems to be doing, I mean, I think well now there are quite you know few tourists, and they have now the the massive cruise ships that uh uh uh I I don't know if they dock there or they make a stop there, but we saw several.

SPEAKER_01:

I think they do dock there, yeah. So and they make stops there as well, yes. So before we went on this trip, I wanted to do something to surprise Nalini and our travel partners, which were her son Urtin and my husband Jeff, and I wanted to do something that would be memorable. And one of the things that comes to mind for someone who's not from the south when we think about the south is flamenco.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

So what's interesting is that a lot of people think of flamenco and they think of Spain, they just think, oh, Spain, flamenco, sangria, you know, all this kind of stuff. But actually, for us, I think, you know, if you think of flamenco, uh, if you're from here, from this area, you think south. You think yeah, you know, Sevilla, Granada, Cádiz, all of that. It's from the south, it's from the south. At least here, yes, you have the people in Barcelona and the Rumberos and all that, you have that. But if you think of like pure flamenco, you're thinking south. Right. You know, so that that so I thought, okay, try and do something that didn't feel touristy. Because I hate to say it, but it's true that there are a lot of really interesting Tablao Flamenco in Madrid, but they do feel very touristy. Right. Like when you go there, it feels like very, very touristy. Like it's a little show that's put on just for tourists. And it's a shame because you want to conserve, of course, you want the tourism and you want people coming to visit, but you want to conserve some of the tradition. And kind of like when we talked about the Royal Equestrian School, yes, there were everybody. We were all tourists there, but there was still an essence of tradition that I think made it very unique. Instead of it feeling like it was turned into a tourist destination, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly, exactly. I mean, I said after we saw the show, I said, um, I don't need to see another flamenco show. Like, in fact, if I was out somewhere and somebody, I would I would just say, No, I'm not going. Yeah. I don't need to, I've seen it. I don't need to see it again. Not that I don't appreciate, you know, obviously the art, the craft, etc. But us, what we saw, cannot be topped as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_01:

In terms of tradition, tradition, obviously you could get much bigger, more famous, right? All of that. But in terms of, you know, like if you were to say go to one of the tabla flamencos in one of the tourist spots or that, it's gonna feel very different.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So just by chance, because sometimes I do think, you know, luck is on our side, or whatever you want to call it, I was doing some research when we were gonna go down there, and I found this place called La Cueva del Pájaro Azul. So the cave of the blue bird. Right. You know, we rode to them, uh, we got tickets, and then Which we paid for, by the way. 100%. Again, we're not being sponsored or anything like that. But after the show, Germán, shout out to German, who is very passionate about what he does, uh, you know, said if you want, you know, to sit back and, you know, kind of ask some questions, I'll be happy to answer them. But before I get into the history of La Cueva de Pajarazul and a little bit of flamenco, as a non-Spanish person sitting there watching that show, what went through your mind?

SPEAKER_03:

Um, first of all, I I thought we were just like super lucky. Um, and I did tell I sent her a message on Saturday or something. I said, we might be like have some kind of vision impairment because of all the things that we saw in a 24-hour period of time that you almost can't digest it. You're seeing the best of the best in, you know, with the horses. And now you're seeing the best experience you could possibly have to watch flamenco all within a space of four hours of each other. That which is crazy. Like in the morning we were watching horses dance. And in the evening, but uh in the yeah, we were watching Flamenco. And again, we you think, okay, where is this going to be? Uh, you know, maybe a little theater or Because it was so the specific, right?

SPEAKER_01:

We have a cave thing going on. Yeah. It wasn't a cave. It wasn't a cave. It's a cave. When you think of like. Caves, and I fully get where Nerlene's coming from. I would have never thought this cave was like downtown.

SPEAKER_03:

No, it's in the it's in the center of like it's just in a neighborhood. You can't even say it's not in a neighborhood. I mean, people are out walking their dogs, they have the baby in the pramp, uh, you know, going for a little evening cocktail. It is in the center of the city. There's this tiny little door. You gather on the outside. Um, when it is time for the show, you are now called in um party by party. So they announce your name. It's like doing a roll call in school. They announce your name and then you go in. Which, when you're on the outside, you think, why are they doing this? This seems like a little dramatic. However, you realize why. Because the cave is no bigger than, I mean, a bedroom. Yeah, it's it's like 38 people that can fit in. It's really small. And when they each little group has a little table, like and not a stable table either. One wrong move and everything's gonna go flying. So you've got each little group has their own little table and you have to really squeeze in. Um, and then you're there. You there's no, I need to go to the bathroom, or I mean, goodness, if you had a coughing fit or something, I don't know what would somebody had a coughing fit, but you're stuck there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's definitely worth being aware of because there is no phone reception. No phone reception. You're not allowed to take pictures during the show. Which again, fully understandable. And also it's worth understanding that you are going to something that has a little bit of um, I don't know how to describe it, but there there needs to be a level of respect.

SPEAKER_03:

100%. And then when the um, you know, the singer she came out, the musician, the guitarist, and then the dancers, they came out, they are we were put right in front of the little stage. But when I say in front, we might as well have been sitting on the stage. That is how close they are to you. They are right next to you. And it is super intense. You go from standing outside, shuffling down the cave stairs, shuffling inside your little table.

SPEAKER_01:

You have a bottle of manzanilla that you know you can kind of dive. You drink the whole bottle. Yeah, let's uh some serrano ham, some picos, which I have to say that's pretty funny because they are like the crunchiest thing in the world, and you're being asked to stay quiet.

SPEAKER_03:

So it's kind of interesting watching people going like trying to eat these little, yeah, crunchy biscuits is the best way to describe it, but super loud on top of everything else. That is the those are the snacks that come with your ticket price. And then the performance starts, but it goes from Zero to a hundred, zero to a thousand in a split second with the singing, the guitar, and then the dancers come on, and then it really kicks off. I mean, it is explosive, is the best way to describe it.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. What I mentioned to Nelane is in an age of artificial intelligence and everything tech. Here we are sitting in this cave, which is multiple thousands of years old, and I'll just speak about some of the facts of the cave in a moment here with no microphones. No microphones, no speakers, nothing, no nothing. These four artists, one guitar, her voice, the yeah, the clapping, yeah, and the two the lady and the man dancing with the sound of their shoes against a tablao flamenco, which is literally a piece of wood. Right. That's it.

SPEAKER_03:

That's it.

SPEAKER_01:

For an hour, so it's very pure, very pure, very raw and guttural, you know.

SPEAKER_03:

Very much so.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean you cannot not be moved. And no, actually, something that my husband said, I thought it was quite, you know, well described is it's almost like religious, but it's not, you know, it's like somehow there isn't a religious part to it, but it feels like something like religious because it is so deep.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. And it's also I don't know, I think on some level, maybe a bit spiritual.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You know, I think that's the right way to describe it.

SPEAKER_03:

It's it's spiritual in a way because the emotion that they're putting into it and they're I mean who would want to do that job? And like it's not a job, you know what I mean? It's like a calling, it's like you have to do that. That's like in you, and every time you get on that stage or the you know, the singing or the you know, the guitar. It's just something that's in you that you have to express exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

I I think they call it duende.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

El duende. When you you have it or you don't.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Because yes, you can learn. Yeah, you can learn to do flamenca, you can learn to do the dancing, you can learn to do these things, but it's not. I don't know how to describe it. I I don't think the overall what you can put across, I'm not sure you can learn that.

SPEAKER_03:

You cannot, it's impossible. And also you're not able, you would not be able to do it in that confined space. I mean, you could you might as well have had a uh private performance in your bathroom. Like that's how tight, that's how small it is. Like it's really small. You're packed in there. But that is honestly one of the really most interesting things I think that we've experienced. We've gone to a lot of things, we've seen a lot of things, we've had a lot of laughs, but that was something on a different, in a different realm. Yeah. You know, I now you got the gentleman who was super kind, super nice. Um, he asked after if we wanted to stay back and ask a few questions. And I said to Laura, why don't you uh he spoke no English and I said, Okay, so I listened to a few answers and then I kind of quietly walked skidaddled. Yeah, skedaddle because he was really not taking a breath. Went outside. My son was downstairs with you. I went outside with your husband. We were standing there talking, and I said, Do you think you could call Laura and pretend that we want to leave? You know, because it's 10:30 or quarter to 11. Jeff says, There's no phone reception down there. And he goes, Maybe I should go in and check. And I go, Okay, fine. He goes in and checks. The last after the last set of people came out, which is a good now half an hour after the show's finished, the last set of people have come out. He goes in and the lady closes the door on me. So now I'm standing in this little back alley in a city, yeah, a town that I don't know anybody. I'm clearly a foreigner, and I thought, oh, this is great. Now I so I'm trying to call my son. I think, yeah, I this is not a good idea. This is where things can go badly very quickly. Thankfully, my son came out, and then your husband was still stuck in there.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the big thing, so I want to say I could have stayed for two hours. He was yeah, he was giving you a history lesson, but not just that, the place is unreal. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna take a minute to just share a few things. So the cave itself, which is La Cueva de Pajar Azul, is underneath the barrio del Populo. And it is Phoenician, it is from the shipyard, and they think it's about 2,300 years old, at least. Like everything in the town. Yeah. So archaeologists found the remains of the Pentecontreras, which is a 25-meter warships that were carved directly into the stone dogs. So the Phoenicians were building these ships, and you can actually see the shape of the cave is in the shape of one of these ships. Oh, so they would build them, right? It's kind of like you know, a little bit on a slant, because then they would just use momentum to push the ships out. And I'm talking like big Phoenician, you know, warships, which is crazy. So then, in terms of the connection with the flamenco and why they call that place the oldest uh Tablao Flamenco in Spain, so probably means in the world, is that they were you know ancient uh dancers and they were poets that captured about these ancient dancers that were called the Puellae Gaditane, Gaditanae, sorry. And these are Cadith dancers who played castinet like crotalos and performed sensual rhythmic dancers for soldiers and novels. So okay. Go figure what you know what they were doing. Yeah, but you know, again, it's a port, there's a lot of mariners, and women are performing, sexy dancers trying to get the attention of men. Okay, so then these ancient dancers are considered what are called the proto-flamenco performers, so before flamenco, and it blended African, Phoenician, Iberian rhythms before the word flamenco actually existed. So that's where they think that the flamenco comes from. So they were these women dancing from Cadith. So the cave is called the Bluebird Cave because that was the name of a very, very famous smuggler from that time. All right. And those caves, after you know, thousands of years after they were used for the original purpose by the Phoenicians, they were then used for the smuggling of mainly tobacco and anything that they wanted to get into the city that they didn't want to be taxed on.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's where the kind of bluebird comes from. And uh the other thing that I think is just you know, we could have a whole episode on the cave, so I'm not gonna go that far into the detail, but I think it's pretty interesting that when it comes to the actual discovery of the cave, etc. Again, we go back to the sherry, right? Right, there was a winery that was right in front of the of the cave. Okay, they wanted to expand the winery. I want to say the gentleman that had the winery was this uh uh Manuel Fedriane, that's it. So the local bodega in 1958, he uncovered the cave accidentally. So they were expanding the winery from one side of the street to the other, right? And one of the builders in the building process heard this clonk, clonk clonk, clunk. It's like, I think there's something down there, and they head down there, and all of a sudden, they find in 1958 these caves that had been hidden for over 2,000 years. Wow. So when they realize what it was, he then decides we're gonna open this cave and give it a commercial uh focus. Right. And then officially, uh, in this is very, very cool because the area before was not in a nice part of town, so there were a lot of prostitutes and whatever, and when he discovered this cave in the 50s, people said to him, You can't open like a nice flamenco place here. Who's gonna come here? Like, this is the bad part of town, like you know, and he said, Okay, I'll do something that no one can, you know, uh forget or avoid coming to. He hosted the first like flamenco competition in Spain to pay the the winner 5,000 pesados, which was like a salary of a year, yeah, which was a lot of money. So he brought in people like Cameron de la Isla, uh La Perla, all these people who were like unbelievable that they were there, and people had to go, even if it was in the not nice part of town. So it had its golden era from that time until 85, is when it closed. But people who were there, like royalty, um, you know, Julio Iglesias, and it was the official place when someone big came to town for a concert where they had the after parties. So that's kind of cool. Only God knows what that cave has seen, is the only thing I will say. But you know, like who knows? But they still do even like the day after we went, they had a private event for two people who rented out the cave. So please, if you're in Cádiz, check it out. In during the day, it's an archaeological visit. Oh, during the day, you go visit the the actual Phoenician historical part, and at night, if you're lucky and you kind of that's the day that they have the flamenco show, you can go watch the flamenco. And they don't always have the same performers, no, it rotates, yeah, uh, they have new people, and again, he was very proud to share, and I think it's pretty cool that you know they they pay the people well, and it's not like one of these places that they're just kind of like the same people every night where it becomes repetitive. So it's a very cool place. I'm very thankful and grateful that we had that experience. I'm very grateful for German to take the time. He actually sent me a bunch of documentation. I feel like we could do it. Oh, sorry, one last kind of interesting bit of information. The first uh documentary to be shot in color in Europe was shot in there by the German television. Oh, why? Don't know, but that's why they where they did it. And he sent me a link to YouTube where you can go watch it. Oh, it sounds interesting. It's a really cool little place.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, I think the biggest takeaway from all the places that we've gone, you know, in the last how many ever months is that we've somehow managed to meet people that are very passionate about what they do, and we're really seeing the authentic side of all the low worlds. Like and I mean, you're you you were born here, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But I have to say I was born here. I've probably learned more about uh my own country since starting this podcast than in the prior 39 years of my life, so it is amazing.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we're we've been really fortunate that whatever it is, if it's flamenco in a cave, horses, caves, like I don't know. It doesn't matter. Wherever we've gone, they we're so privileged to be able to meet people who are very passionate and just very honest in their journey in what they're producing or putting out there.

SPEAKER_01:

My husband has a new favorite word.

SPEAKER_03:

What which is Dale.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, Ole, Dale, Dale means like hit it, right? And he thinks it's hilarious. It's like, you know, but it's true, it you know, because they say it to encourage each other, right? As they're as they're doing the show. But yeah, it's uh I'm really, really happy with the with the trip and really recommend for people to have that experience and you know, try and look for the authentic places, try and look for the tradition. And who knows, there may be a flamenco class if Renalini and I in the works.

SPEAKER_00:

You can see that on socials. Okay, slice of life. Slice of life.

SPEAKER_01:

So before we dive into our slice of life, a quick shout out to our amazing partner, Goco Energy. You have to try this.

SPEAKER_03:

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SPEAKER_01:

It's perfect, right? Whether you're working, traveling, or just keeping your creative spark alive. Basically, it keeps you in that go mode.

SPEAKER_03:

I agree. I'm not necessarily a fan of all energy drinks, but this is one that I truly enjoy. My favorite flavor so far is pineapple, and you can order it straight from gocoenergy.com. That's g-o-o-energy.com, shipped right to your door.

SPEAKER_01:

So hydrating, refreshing, and honestly, it just makes everything flow better. Slice of life, yay, season five. Yeah, brought to you by Go Co. Right. So, um, we're doing uh this little uh our torta? Yes, our torta, which we kind of fell in love with the last season and in the last episode, and we've got it here with some avocado oil. You want to talk a little bit about avocados in the south?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, one thing that uh I mean, people who live here probably know this, but for those that don't, the south of Spain is a huge producer of fruit and all of Andalusia, fruit, vegetables, um, because of the heat. So they have the right climate and the soil and the temperature to be able to produce uh, I would say, I mean, a very large percentage of the fruit that is grown here in the country. So avocados being one of them. Also, oddly enough, the I thought mangoes were imported.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought so too. But no, no, you're right. Because now they started to show up with these Mercalona mangoes that are from Spain.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, and from Andalusia. So because it's warm enough for it to grow there, which and mangoes are tropical fruit, right? And they have such a long growing season. So today we're just having this with some avocado oil, which we actually happen to have from Alicante. From the food fair.

SPEAKER_01:

And we have here some salt from the Atlantic, which you can actually see as you're driving around Cádiz. There are these like marshlands with these salt based mountains of salt.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So which I always I always think there's kind of this kind of Dune vibe, you know, like uh, you know what I mean? Like the movie Dune. Is that you say it? Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know. It's always like when you see the marshlands and you see the the salt mountains. Right. I always find it just something like very unique.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, okay, so we went from you guys had a day in Sevilla, we met you guys there. We didn't have time to stay, so we're keeping Sevilla in our back pocket for a completely separate trip. We did that. We drove uh an hour. I say we, there's only one person driving. So like we're all driving. Yeah, you're all on the same time. Your husband Jeff is doing the driving and the parking and the navigating the small streets. So uh thank you, thank you, Jeff. Uh so we drove to uh Caddy's and then checked in. Then we did all of that, went to Jerez the next day, drove back the next day to Sevilla, and then you guys went. I went to Valencia to come home, and then you guys went to Thanksgiving. Did you Thanksgiving and you guys went to a techno concert in Madrid.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, so slice of live. We're gonna talk about Time Warp. So Time Warp, please invite us next year. We did not get any sponsorship from Time Warp for this, but I will say that it is a super cool event. So, Time Warp, I think it's German, it's a German techno brand, and they have like massive festivals, not just in Spain. So I believe this is the second year that they did it at IFEMA. Now, IFEMA is like the IFA in Alicante, where we went to the gastronomic Alicante. Uh, but for the Madrid version of it, it's massive. I think they have like nine pavilions or something. So remember where we were in the IFA in Alicante? Right. I was one pavilion. Right. So imagine like eight of those. Well, that's where they do Madrid Fashion Week. Yeah, it's huge. Yeah, and I think it's really cool because they must have a lot of logistical power to be able to turn these events around so quickly. Because I thought it was really funny as we were walking up to this place, they had had that day earlier. Uh, you know, my daughter likes to watch like this pollito bill, you know, these like videos on YouTube. They had like this show from all these uh cartoon animals there. Oh, okay. Afternoon. Wow. And by the time we walked in, it was a huge massive techno event. So a big turnaround in a very short space of time. So this was 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. And like I said, I already want to go next year because it was very, very special. The lots of lighting kind of effects and everything. So you feel you like you are part of something. There had to be at least when we when we first walked in, it started kind of drip painting the amount of people. I actually felt a little bit bad because the first DJ must have come out to no one because they had some issue at the door or something where people came in 20 minutes late. So imagine being a DJ, like a famous DJ, and you come out to an arena where there's supposed to be like 20 or 30,000 people and there's no one there. So when we walked in, the guy was already doing his set. I'm like, oh, okay, this is a weird. But let's just say that the collection of people was very eclectic. We saw a guy dressed like Batman, like full-on Batman game. We seen a guy in a kimono with sunglasses. So it's very interesting. People of all ages, obviously 18 plus, but people of all ages. Right. And very, very well set up. And that's the one thing I think if you're going to like a big kind of music event in Spain, one thing you can count on is that they do a lot of these through the year. It's usually pretty well organized. And you know, yes, if you're going to a concert of someone famous, expect that sometimes it's going to be late. Right. But in this case, it's like, okay, 10 p.m. one, 11 p.m. another. Uh, you know, 12 pm. Yes. And like no changeover time. Because they wanted people to kind of feel the beat, you could say, and keep going. And even like the whole place, all the whole pavilion was like the bars were all the way around. So there was no queue even.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, very well done. I think they do concerts actually very well in Madrid. Yes. They really do.

SPEAKER_01:

I would definitely go to another event at the Efema. Right. It's extremely easy to get to. I mean, it's like a taxi away. Um, yeah. So I was really, really impressed. If you like techno, I would definitely rec, but it is like definitely hard techno. Techno. I have very particular music tastes because I would also go to a metal event and all these kind of things. But I think the tie-in or the connection, it's just the adrenaline. It's just, you know, being in this kind of high adrenaline. Well, you were with the horses, then the flamenco, and then the techno, and then and then the huge meal yesterday at your house.

SPEAKER_03:

And then I was today recording. You know what's gonna happen tonight? It's gonna be like a crash. I'll call you tomorrow. Laura, Laura. Yeah. And a bunch of work meetings.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, on a completely separate note, I just found this out yesterday, but the NFL is playing uh an official game in Madrid. When? November 15th. What?

SPEAKER_01:

It's the commanders and the so the dolphins, I believe, they did it in London once. They do this where they try to give the.

SPEAKER_03:

They played yesterday. The because that's why the NFL in London. Yes, that's why my husband had it on the TV during Thanksgiving. And my son called me and he I said, Oh, what are you doing? He's like, seven hours of football. My son's in the States. So he's like on the couch, ready to order his wild wing order and whatever. He's like, seven hours of football. And I said, Oh, dad had some football match on. And he's like, Oh, that's they whoever played in um London. And he's like, Why don't you guys go to Madrid in November? And I said, For what? He's like, the NFL. They have a game.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm super curious to know where they're doing that.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh well, whatever. I looked at tickets.

SPEAKER_01:

There's the tickets aren't that expensive. So I want to go. There's not a huge following for American football here. So I'm really so let's talk about it because that may be something we can do.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. It'll be fun, right? On Sunday to go. Yeah, I think it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Sunday football, Sunday football in Madrid. Well, everyone, thank you very much for joining us for this first episode of our very exciting season that we have ahead of us. We are going to continue to explore the south and expect Sevilla, expect Malaga, and some really interesting things coming up in this season. Thank you very much for joining us.

SPEAKER_03:

Bye for now. The Maid in Spain podcast is fueled by Goco Energy, refreshingly real energy that keeps the good vibes going.