Jerez, Espanha

Hola

Today we set off for Jerez, one of the 3 pillars of the Sherry triangle (the others being Cádiz and El Puerto but this is the spiritual home).
Fun ordering a taxi (reception has a queue so we get the lady in the mini market to ring for us). Our driver (we decide on the trip) has just got his license and is slow as and very very cautious - "come on mate we are already late for the train due to the troubles ordering the cab".

At the train station Bob joins the queue (of course there's a queue), but I manage to get 2 tickets out of the machine- to who knows where! We race to the platform and the train arrives as we do and we jump on. If we miss it we have to wait an hour - phew 😅 But it seems this is a long distance train and there are allocated seats but we just have a ticket with nothing on it (oops wrong ticket or wrong train - whatever!). We sit down and hope as it’s only one stop.

We arrive in Jerez, just 9 minutes later and hoof it up to Plaza Arenal where we are to meet our walking tour guide at 11am. Martine, our guide says it’s just you two - so a very personal tour! After a bit of history about dictators, we head to one of the main attractions of Jerez (apart from Sherry Houses), the Alcazar (Islamic Castle). It’s a magnificent experience with the guide talking only to us (although she is Italian living and studying here and speaking in English so the accent is a bit hard to understand ).

Lovely park Jerez

Lovely old building in Jerez

Another lovely park in Jerez

Trees along path

Exterior of Alcazar

Exterior of Alcazar

Exterior of Alcazar

Another shot of exterior of Alcazar

View of Alcazar entrance

Horse and cart awaiting passengers outside Alcazar

Courtyard in Alcazar

Alcazar entrance

We see the Islamic section which is still as it was back then - just magnificent. Beautiful domed ceilings and old Islamic baths (hot, warm and cold baths). Oh and old wine presses to make sherry - one where the donkeys used to walk around harnessed to press - and also a more modern wooden/timber press where slaves were used doing a similar thing.

Islamic domed ceiling in Alcazar

Domed ceiling in original Islamic section of Alcazar - with star skylights

Old Islamic baths in Alcazar

Old Islamic room with eight entrances (their favourite number)

Beautiful ceilings in the Islamic section of the Alcazar - with star shaped skylights

Sherry press - operated by donkeys

Kerrie showing you how the donkeys used to press the grapes to make sherry

Fireplace to keep sherry warm

They moved on from the donkey sherry press to the wooden sherry press operated by slaves

Wooden grape press - with slaves twirling the press

Old pharmaceutical jars from Islamic times

Old pharmaceutical weighing machine

Lots of photos to try to give you a feel for how lovely it is. We look at a Model of the Medina (old walled Arabic/Islamic town) back before the Spanish Inquisition which has the Arabs with 85% and the Jewish Quarter with about 15% of the area. They get along okay but then come the Christians. The Arabs stay but are overcome, and the Jews flee (something to their argument about historic and ongoing persecution persecution I guess). Nowadays there is no evidence of the Jewish quarter having ever existed. And also there are no Mosques anywhere in this area of Spain anymore.

Model of Medina showing the delineation of Jews and Arabs and eventually Christians

Finish off the tour by going past the Cathedral which was a Mosque originally and then converted to a church but a shortage of money over decades/centuries means they never finished the facades and there are even "uneven" decorated tiles with 3 plain rows on one side of the entrance door and 4 on the other side. Then we see a gelato shop built into the only piece of old Medina wall that’s left (quite cleverly built into the nooks and crannies) - it’s closed though.

Bob and Kerrie outside Cathedral

Beautiful archway at Cathedral

Exterior of Cathedral

Part of old archeological wall - with gelato shop below

Tour done so we decide to head off to "Tio Pepe" wine cellar (Gary's recommendation ) for a tour and sherry tasting. We get there and it’s closed with no sign of life other than a security guard around the back - we ask him and he gibbers don’t bother me go around the front - we say "but it’s closed" - he says "gibber gibber, don’t care, not my problem bugger off" (or some-such).

It’s pretty hot again, but we strike out for another sherry house called "Lustau" to see if we can get in there - we arrive, its lovely, but 3.00pm sold out. We sit in their lovely courtyard and contemplate life, before Kerrie manages to wrangle the Tio Pepe website into English and we book a 4.30pm tour, so hoof it back up town, stopping for a Gelato to sustain us for the rest of the journey.

Courtyard at Lustau cellar - where with sit and contemplate life - and how to find another sherry tour

The tour at Tio Pepe is split into 2 groups as there is a big roll up, and we end up with Lachie and Dani a young couple from Brisbane who have been working in the UK for 3 years and are touring around like us until they also head home for Xmas. Interesting history of Tio Pepe in that back in in 1835, a young fellow, Gonzalez at 23 years of age decided he'd start a vineyard and make sherry. So with the help of his uncle "Tio Pepe" (who assisted with money and some business ideas), they started "Tio Pepe" - still going today.

Our guide at start of sherry tour - in old sherry cellar with many, many sherry barrels around the perimeter

Lots and lots of sherry barrels

Old sherry barrels in Tio Pepe

More sherry barrels

Wine barrels signed by famous people - this one by Bobby Charlton 1966

This barrel signed by Ayrton Senna - famous F1 driver

This one signed by Chris Vermeulen - famous motor cycle champion and also Hank's nephew

Old vines at Tio Pepe - the soil allows the roots to absorb water from rain so self watering

Boulevarde of vines - Tio Pepe

Another vine boulevarde at Tio Pepe

Tio Pepe

Tour is really enjoyable but the tasting at the end is better! We have 4 types of sherry ((Fino - dry, Oloroso - middle dry, Croft Twist - a spritz, and Solera - sweet). And also Bob orders a Pedro Ximenez just because (our favourite , tastes like liquid Xmas cake). We linger chatting with Lachie and Dani and also having a wee dram in the shop of a couple of things including a Whiskey (Outland) that they make.

Kerrie sitting ready for sherry tasting

Here's the sherry about to be tasted

Kerrie with some of the delicious sherries

Our new mates from Brissie - Lochy and Dani

Anyhow we are too late for the 7.20pm train, so we go aback to Plaza Arenal to a restaurant and have some Tapa - that are really small meals (Casserole, Paella and Meatballs) - and a glass of vino, before sprinting back to the train ‘cos we are late again.

Bob's tapas

Inside Tapas Bar - lovely old interior

Get there, buy a ticket from a real human who says Platform 4, go right now. We arrive on platform as train arrives and get straight on (second time today we have exquisite timing!!). 9 minutes and we are back in El Puerto, a speedy cab home and we are off to bed after a long and excellent day.

Oh boy, what a day!