A NAVEGABLE AND TRADING ALTERNATIVE. SEVILLE, CADIZ, MALAGA.

Cádiz was the gateway to America, and the Straits of Gibraltar were the crossroads and anchorage for Mediterranean trade.

But the roads of Andalusia were few, dangerous and, at times, impassable. Therefore, the necessary commerce between Seville, Cádiz and Málaga, for their mining, wine and farming products, had to be done by boat.

Thanks to the steamships, travellers could avoid the tortuous roads and also come into contact with a world both curious and picturesque. Cádiz thus became the axis of two different destinations: Málaga and Seville.

In Málaga, having been bid farewell by the small English colony, the traveller would leave behind the scent of the oleanders, the almonds and the honeysuckle. From the ship, he would see the coastline fade away, and a rosary of historic, sonorous names would unfold before them: Marbella, Punta de Calaburra, Estepona.

Then the province of Cádiz and Europa Point at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, the island of Las Palomas, the Punta del Acebuche and the mouth of the Guadalmecí River.

Following that, the hallows of Las Cabezas, dreaded rendezvous for shipwrecks. The historic city of Tarifa, separated from Punta de las Palomas by the most beautiful beach in the south of Spain. Cape Plata, Punta Camurinal, the bay of Zahara and Barbate, tunny fishing-grounds that belonged to the Duchy of Medina Sidonia. Next, Trafalgar, a hard recollection for Spain, followed by Conil, Pulpera, Sancti Petri (Chiclana) and finally, surrounded by water and marshes, Cádiz. In the city, a large foreign colony awaited the traveller: gypsies, parties, theatre, dances and promenades would entertain him during his sojourn.

Ford, Borrow, Gautier, Merimee all went through Cádiz and few of them stopped there. Upriver, on the turbid waters of the Guadalquivir, the great attraction was awaiting: Seville. The steamers "Real Fernando", "Victoria" and "Neptuno" would search unhurriedly for the inner harbour, observed silently from the flat vastness of the marshes by the bulls and the waders of the Marismas.