Close to the Pillars—*the Gibraltar Strait—there are two isles, one of which they call Hera’s Island; moreover, there are some who call also these isles the Pillars. Gades—*Cadiz— however, is outside the Pillars. Concerning Gades I have said only thus much, that it is about seven hundred and fifty stadia distant from Calpe—*Gibraltar—(that is, it is situated near the outlet of the Baetis), but there is more to be said about it than the others. For example, here live the men who fit out the most and largest merchant-vessels, both for Our Sea and the outer sea, although, in the first place, it is no large island they live in, and secondly, they do not occupy much of the continent opposite the island, and, thirdly, are not well-off in the possession of other islands; indeed, they live mostly on the sea, though a mere few keep at home or else while away their time at Rome. In population, however, Gades does not fall short, it would seem, of any of the cities except Rome … The city of Gades is situated on the westerly parts of the island; and next to it, at the extremity of the island and near the islet, is the temple of Cronus; but the temple of Heracles is situated on the other side, facing towards the east, just where the island runs, it so happens, most closely to the mainland, thus leaving a strait of only about a stadium in width. And they say that the temple is twelve miles distant from the city…. In telling stories of the following sort about the founding of Gades, the Gaditanians recall a certain oracle, which was actually given, they say, to the Tyrians, ordering them to send a colony to the Pillars of Heracles: The men who were sent for the sake of spying out the region, so the story goes, believed, when they got near to the strait at Calpe, that the two capes which formed the strait were the ends of the inhabited world …

* My explanations are in italics

The above text passage is the first description of Cadiz—my hometown. Strabo wrote it in the first century before the birth of Christ.  Those who have read the story “The Man in a Blue Tunic” in my book “The Silver Teacup” know of the foundation of Cadiz before Rome and the splendor of this ancient city. I invite you to read it again. Here is a snippet from the book:

I kept running and, as I stumbled on the wet sand, saw a man lying down alone between two dunes. In the past I had come across quite a few loving couples making their courting dance.But a man alone was unusual. When he stood up, my eye caught sight of his intense azure-blue tunic that reached the middle of his legs. I had seen my share of weird people around this area,German hippies, British homeless, and other poor souls who had descended from the cold countries of the continent looking for a warmer subsistence. I had even espied more than one exhausted illegal immigrant from Morocco, whose rickety boats had capsized on the high seas crossing the Gibraltar Strait. Few of those made it. Mangled-up corpses of men, women, and children were washed up on the seashore. This man that I just saw was strong and healthy-looking, about my age, twenty-eight or twenty-nine, a little taller than me, 5’ 7” or 5’ 8”, boasted shoulders as broad as a boxer’s, and wore leather sandals …

Addendum—a new incident with my magic ring:

Those who read my post about my magic ring remember the beautiful green jade stone embedded in gold and the almost paranormal story attached to it—the repeated disappearances and the surprising reappearances. Although it kept coming back to me, I did not want to risk losing it for good.  I took it to a jeweler who measured my finger and decided to thicken the ring with gold. He did it so well I could hardly remove it. I did not mind the minor constraint because I never took it off.  A few days ago, I was in my swimming pool with my three-year-old grandson, and he said,

“Abuelo, there is something on the bottom of the pool.”

I asked him what it was,

“Something that sparkles, something from the ocean.”

He dived down, grabbed it, and showed it to me.  He had my magic ring in his hand. I could not believe my eyes. I even looked at my finger to check whether the ring was still there. Now I know that it belongs to the ocean.

**Picture taken by my friend Dr. Noni Quiñones