THIS early, reserve now your flight and hotel bookings to Cadiz if you want to spend Christmas here. Make sure your flight is a round trip ticket or else you’ll risk being stranded here for the rest of January because of booked flights already. If you come from Europe, then there are lots of regional airlines and flag carriers depending on your country of origin. If you come from other continents such as the United States, the Middle East or Asia, then there may be no international flights available directly to Cadiz. You’ll just need a connecting flight either from Madrid or Barcelona. Also, there are lots of smaller regional airlines available such as RyanAir.

But if you want to go by land through Portugal, that’s not a problem either as all land borders in Spain, do not have outposts in them anymore thanks to the Schengen agreement. If you don’t have your own car, there are lots of cheap car rentals available depending on what you like. Prices vary according to the model of the car and the price and durability of its engines and parts. If you can go for a luxury car, then indulge in it. Cadiz is neither a luxury city nor backward country, it is something coastal. You don’t need to rent out an off-road vehicle or a luxury car, any decent sedan or even an RV will do. What Spanish tourism authorities would like to stretch out though is that they are environmentalists at heart and renting a vehicle which does not burn that much fuel is highly appreciated.

Although an RV is considered as the poor man’s vehicle, there are lots of RVs or recreational vehicles here in Cadiz considered for rent that are customized and will qualify enough to become luxury vehicles. The insides are like coaches rode on by celebrities. For the right price, you can rent these vehicles and enjoy Cadiz the whole Christmas season.

It is imperative to note though that people here in Cadiz protect themselves from the -3 degree Celsius winter by wearing layers and layers of clothing. On second thought, Christmas is nice here as you get to go to mass every morning for nine dawns preceding Christmas Eve. New Year is also celebrated with a bang with lots of fireworks over the Mediterranean.

Christmas is also swell here in Cadiz as everything here is vegetarian. The country’s patron saint is the Virgin Mary herself who is the mother of Christ and that speaks a lot on how devout Christians in Cadiz can be in celebrating the birth of the Messiah. They go to church for nine dawns preceding Christmas and they have a huge party afterwards where kids are at the center of attraction because they’re commemorating the birth of Christ.

This elaborate feast is called noche Buena and in the early evening, household fathers in a neighborhood often gather together and drink some spirits and wine and even beer. They then return home to their family and enjoy a hearty meal of roast lamb with turron and polvorones as dessert. They then cap everything else with Spanish cognac.