Puerto Real

Puerto Real is a seaport in Andalusia, in the province of Cádiz. As of 2010, it had a population 40,667.

The town is located on the northern shore of the inner lobe of the Bay of Cádiz, on the site of the ancient Roman settlement of Portus Gaditanus. An ancient trading post, it is probably the oldest settlement on the Bay of Cádiz. It owes its modern name to the fact that it was rebuilt in 1488 by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Puerto Real boasts public squares and broad streets; it also has a town-hall building and a 16th-century church, which was constructed in several styles (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque).

Geography

The town of Puerto Real has two separate zones with two separate characters, a maritime zone and a hinterland zone. Central Puerto Real lies entirely within the maritime zone, facing, as it does, the Bay of Cadiz and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The inland zone, the so-called hinterland, is far larger in area but far less populated.

Puerto Real borders the towns and cities of San Fernando to the southwest, Chiclana de la Frontera to the south, Medina Sidonia to the southeast, Jerez de la Frontera to the north and northeast, and El Puerto de Santa Maria to the northwest.