Torre Tavira

Torre Tavira is the old watchtower of Cádiz, and it is the best place in the city to understand why Cádiz grew rich in the eighteenth century. In that period the port held the monopoly on trade with the Americas, and merchants built private towers on the flat roofs of their town houses so that lookouts could watch for the ships returning across the Atlantic. At one time the city had well over a hundred such towers, and the skyline of rooftop terraces and little towers is still one of Cádiz’s distinctive features. In 1778 this one was named the official watchtower of the port, and it took its name from its first lookout, Antonio Tavira. It sits on a Baroque house in the old town, close to the Plaza de las Flores.

At about forty-five metres above sea level, it is the highest point in the old city, and the view from the lookout at the top covers the whole peninsula: the rooftops, the cathedral’s yellow dome, the bay, the Atlantic and, on a clear day, the hills of the mainland. Because the old town is so compact and surrounded by water, the view gives a clear sense of the geography of the city. The terrace is a popular place at sunset.

The main feature of the visit is the Camera Obscura, installed in the 1990s in a darkened room at the top of the tower. A lens and mirror on the roof project a live, moving image of the city onto a white concave screen, and a guide uses this to point out streets, landmarks and ships, explaining how Cádiz is laid out and describing its history. The principle is old, and the effect is surprisingly vivid: people appear to walk across the table-like screen in real time. The visit lasts about forty-five minutes and is led in several languages, typically Spanish, English and German.

Other rooms in the tower hold displays about the lookout system and the history of Cádiz in the eighteenth century, with old maps, telescopes and logbooks showing how ship traffic was monitored. The tower is part of a building that has also housed other institutions, so the setting is a mix of heritage and modern use.

Because groups are small, it is wise to book ahead, especially in high season, and to choose a time of day when the sun is bright, since the camera obscura works best in good light. The tower is a short walk from Cadiz Cathedral, the Roman Theatre and the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, and the Castillo de San Sebastián and Playa de la Caleta lie on the other side of the old town.