AS a beach city, Cadiz still has its share of British and Scandinavian tourists even in 2008. There are various kinds of beaches here, the conventional and nudist ones, and most of the patrons who troop to the nudist beaches are gays and lesbians coming from countries in the Scandinavian region such as Norway, Sweden, Germany and Holland. Since it is located near the beach, the climate here in Cadiz is temperate all year round. During winters like right now where it is at its peak, it is not as cold as it is in the Pyrenees or even in Garabandal. But you still need to load yourself with at least a jacket. During summer, it is not that hot but just enough warmth to tan your body if you want to go skinny dipping. But it is more advisable to go skinny dipping at night so you can appreciate the glowing planktons surrounding your body like that very beautiful scene with Virginie Ledoyen in The Beach.

From May 27 to 29, the International Conference on Computational Finance and Applications will be held here in Cadiz. Most of those who will be coming to the event are British and are working in the IT and finance departments in key companies in London so this will really be a big boost to the tourism industry in Cadiz.

Aside from that, Cadiz is definitely different from the rest of the places in Spain. It is that simply because there are already festivals here even if Holy Week is still far away. Going on right now is the half-month long Carnaval de Cadiz which lasts until the second week of February.

Because of the surge of tourists and activities here in Cadiz all year round, the state-owned train transit has organized more trips to Cadiz this year. If the number of passengers continues to increase, then that operation will be considered a more permanent one. After all, tourism helps buoy the economy of Spain. The new train service will run as fast as 250 kilometers per hour and it is indeed nice to take the train from Madrid to Cadiz upon landing here in Spain from your home country so you can breathe in the Spanish countryside.

Another nice thing here in Cadiz and all the beach fronts in Spain is that UNESCO and the European Union are closely working together for the protection of the environment. That’s why we hear of such rules as you can’t park your off-road vehicle in the parking lot at the beaches because the muddy tires of your rented off-road vehicle will ruin the appearance of the pavement. The European Union is conducting quarterly inspections to all resorts here in Cadiz so their blue flag accreditation is constantly renewed. On the other hand, UNESCO makes sure that no permanent structures are erected in heritage sites and environmentally-protected areas. All in all, Cadiz makes for a lovely paradise.