Jerez
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
214
220
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Jerez De La Frontera,
Andalusia,
Spain and Canary Islands
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The road passed through reasonably flat country with large arable fields and it was nearly dusk when we arrived at 'Cadiz', the great Spanish historical port. We had originally intended staying here but the large, bustling, modern city with wide roads was quite busy and we decided to find somewhere quieter. We did see a fabulous sunset on the coast though.
It was now going dark as we tried to get out of Cadiz, thwarted by some pretty awful (or non existent) direction signs. Our second choice was 'Jerez', some thirty kms away and we finally found the road and drove on in the darkness. The reasonable sized town didn't seem to have many hotels and by chance (and this is where we have been very lucky in all our travels, the Gods have usually led us to somewhere good) we found a hotel next to a square.
The 'Casa Grande' was originally a family home and had recently been converted, all marble and new fittings and heating!!! It was now nearly 8pm when we dumped our bags and went out into the busy streets, where shoppers were on their way home, to look for somewhere to eat. In the pedestrianised area there was a marquee with an ice rink and the whole town was brightly decorated for Christmas. Workmen were 'assembling' a Christmas tree from bottles, very apt as Jerez is Spain's major sherry producing region.
We found a small bar in the town centre and enjoyed sherry and tapas, before wandering back to the hotel in the cold, around 7deg, night air for another good night's sleep.
Distance driven 266 km 165 miles
Thursday December 11th.
After breakfast in the bright hotel dining area, I needed to do a financial juggle on the internet, during which a security check required them to contact me by phone for confirmation. OK, home phone - no point and mobile phone number was.........our old cell phone number. This was our reserve account and I had missed changing the number over to our new phone. Aardvarks!! Because I didn't confirm which number I could be contacted on, the transaction failed and the system logged me out. OK, not too bad, I mean it must be at least a week since we had bank problems!!! A quick phone call, at least it's cheaper than New Zealand and problem solved. Just give the network 24 hours to implement the changes.
We wanted a look around town in the daytime and walked out into the warm sunshine. The shops and market stalls were busy with shoppers and we walked on, past the Jerez old castle and into a park where it was raining ..........buckets?..... cats and dogs?.... men?..... no............... Oranges! There were orange trees all round town and the fruit must now have gone past its best and rather than let it fall down and become mushy (and dangerous), the workmen were up in the trees dislodging all the oranges which tumbled down and formed a great carpet under the trees. We didn't find out if they were going to use them for anything but it would be a shame if they were just going to waste.
Across from the park was our next destination, the 'Gonzalez Byass' winery. We paid and went in for a tour and were shown round the different storage areas, an old distillery and saw a film but (maybe understandably) didn't see any production areas. A quick sherry tasting and tapas at the end and we were ready to move on.
