4 to 8 October 2019
Ride a white horse
From El Rocio it was a short
journey of 120 miles to El Puerto de Santa Maria. Barbara and Clive stayed an
extra night at El Rocio but we wanted to move on to give us an extra day in the
sherry triangle, made up of Puerta de Santa Maria, Cadiz and Jerez. We had
hoped to go across to Cadiz by catamaran but a replacement bus service was
running - eventually - it was 45 minutes late. So the day did not get off to a
good start. We had a pleasant stroll along the promenade which runs all the way
round the edge of the peninsula, but due to a series of hiccups throughout the
day, including a delay in finding somewhere for lunch, we didn't see much else.
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| Plaza San Juan, Cadiz |
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| Causeway and Castillo de San Sebastian |
We spent the following morning in
El Puerto de Santa Maria but as it was a Sunday and now low season, several attractions
(eg the castle and bullring) were not open. We found a small bodega (sherry
producer) tucked away in the back streets, where locals were having a drink,
having their own containers filled with sherry, or both.
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| Bodega owners putting world to rights |
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| Barbara and Clive testing the product |
We started to learn about the
different types of sherry and selected three to try and felt it would have been
rude not to purchase a bottle, for the princely sum of €4. We took a look
inside the church, then made our way back to the site via the bullring, so we
could at least see it from the outside.
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| Plaza de Toros, Puerto Santa Maria |
It may have had something to do
with the sherry, but we stayed on site relaxing in the sunshine for the rest of
the afternoon.
Monday 7 October - we suddenly
realised it's already two weeks since we left the UK. We opted to join a guided
tour in English of a larger bodega (Gutierez) and spent a very interesting hour
learning more about sherries, from the very dry Fino to the exceptionally sweet
Pedro Ximenez, inevitably finishing with a tasting. Six generous measures
awaited each of us, beautifully set out on tables, with some savoury nibbles to
soak up the alcohol.
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| Explaining sherry production |
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| Ready for tasting |
We all agreed it had been a great
experience. Once we had eaten lunch back on site and recovered from the
excesses, we managed a short cycle ride along the coast in continuing, glorious
sunshine.
Next day we took the train to
Jerez, where we had tickets for the show at the Royal Andalucian School of
Equestrian Art. After a short presentation we watched some of the horses being
ridden in the training ground, noting that most of the trainers were young
ladies.
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| Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art |
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| Training Ground |
The skills displayed by both
riders and horses during the show itself were impressive, although we felt a
little uncomfortable with some of the more "circus-like" tricks. In
contrast to the training, the show was dominated by male riders, just one
female representative. We had hoped to visit the Alcazar (fortress) in the
afternoon, but our guide book and the internet gave erroneous opening times and
it was closed long before we got there.
Time to move on .... to Ronda.
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