Today we went to the cathederal in Seville for high mass. Janet wanted to know why there were so many priests needed to say the same mass and they seemed to be set apart in a golden cage in this enormous church removed from the congregation? Mick had no answer.
We left Seville for Jerez de la fontera less than an hours drive away.When we arrived we wondered why we had come to this seemingly suburban town. We looked around, had tapas lunch in the old centre then decided to drive to Cadiz on the beach only 30 minuets away. MB wanted to have a swim in the Atlantic. A nice beach. Portsea back beach temperature. A city worth a visit but only saw a small portion of this important port city and old fortress, then back to Jerez.
We had a great dinner in Jerez at an old family restaurant, 'La Calbonera' where we both had fish. We also were able to buy some very good Spanish red wine from the owners cellar.
The next day we discovered the two main features of Jerez are horses and sherry. The famous Andelucian dancing horses had their training this morning at the stunning equestrian centre 'Fundacion real esculla Andaluza Del Arte Ecuestre', so we went to watch them perform. Extraordinary, beautiful, elegant, athletic white horses doing unbelievable dancing feats. We were enthralled. The centre is part of a very elegant palace set in a great landscape.
We did not really understand the city as a whole yet, so we hired a guide, Sylvia.
She explained that Jerez has gone through many ups and downs, but in its heyday under Muslim rule, 700-1400 A.D.It was the gateway to the rest of Spain from the South.The middle ages were not so important but later the sherry industry dominated. However, this has now declined due to changing world drinking habits. There used to be 18 major sherry producers now there remains only 8.
We visited the 'Alcazar', the Muslim palace which still retains much of the Arab building influence of style and decoration, including battlements, baths and cisterns.
Sylvia suggests the best tapas bar in Jerez, 'Bar Juanito'. It was superb decided to have sherry, MB dry and JB medium sweet, nice but not hooked.The food was so great we came back for dinner.
Jerez up to 2007, developed as a large inexpensive housing suburb for Cadiz which is unable to expand as it lies beyond an isthmus and is very expensive. Like much of Spain it has developed rows of monotonous cheap housing on its outskirts, it's best to stick to the beautiful old city centers. However, we have enjoyed learning about this area and seeing its living history.
JB and Mick