Cádiz is a serene, peaceful, and relaxing city, except for at carnival time when it goes completely insane! Every freak imaginable turns up. Every year on the 8th of March Cádiz goes wild with uninhibited vino-guzzlin and flamenco charged madness!!

Everyone loves Carnival in Cadiz. People come from all over the world come to join in on the fun. Some don't even book hotel rooms. They just stay up all night, or sleep on a bench.

The carnival in Cádiz is said to be the third largest in the world. Rio de Janeiro and Trinidad come before. The fun all started in the 17th Century. Venice and Genoa would host decadent carnival celebrations every year. Cádiz decided to keep up and do the same.

The crews of the Spanish ships travelling to the New World brought back gold and silver along with a variety of musical influences that are still alive today.

Nowadays the carnival is a fantastic mixture of Andalucian flamenco, African and Creole rhythms, sambas, and Columbian music. Any music and dancing is welcome (as long as it's loud and colourful).Preparations often seem messy and slow. You'd often wonder how they pull it together in the end, but they do. Perfectly.

Every available space is used up. Stages are set up on all the plazas for musical performances, comic acts, and children's shows etc.

The Plaza de Cathedral hosts some excellent rock concerts. Some of Spain's most popular groups perform here. There is also the daily La Toronda (thunder) that takes place in the Plaza San Juan de Dios. It's an insane, mind-shattering firecracker display.

The carnival also includes numerous colourful parades, with dancing children in crazy costumes. If your feeling adventurous you could try the battered lookin carnival rides in Parque Genrives...you'd have to see them to believe them!!

There are loads of things to do and see, but most people just come to drink and have fun in the streets. The city gets so crowded that you can loose all sense of direction. Roads and buildings become irrecognizable with all the colours, movement and people.