The main reason for visiting Jerez was because Colin had treated to me to tickets for a performance at the Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. It is a childhood dream to go the Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and watch a performance so I really couldn’t wait.
Jerez is also famous worldwide for its sherry production. It is one of only three places in the area that produces Sherry.
Day one we decided to cycle into the City to get our bearings and have a look around. That’s the beauty of us having the E bikes with us, we can cover so much ground and we aren’t reliant on public transport.
Jerez is a lovely City and not too big, it is very easy to walk around as it is so compact.
Around every street corner is lovely plazas and plenty of restaurants/cafes to stop at to people watch.
We headed back into the City the following day and our first stop was the Sherry Bodegas owned by Gonzalez Byass. They make the famous Tio Pepe ‘Fino’ sherry and the logo is everywhere.
The tour was very interesting and we learnt a lot about the history of the company which was a family business being run by the 5th generation. We also learnt about how complex sherry production is. It takes a minimum of 3 years to make sherry.
They also produce brandy and a tour around the brandy distillery was also included in the price of our ticket. The tour took about 2 hours and then we were taken to the restaurant to try 4 different sherries. The tickets are not cheap and cost 19 euros each so this really was a little treat for us! However, we had a great time and thoroughly recommend it if you are in Jerez.
We were pleased to find out that it was also the flamenco festival in Jerez. We haven’t seen a flamenco show since being in Spain, so we went to watch a free flamenco show at Tabanco El Pasaje.
Firstly, what a fantastic venue, it is so authentic. They even write you tab in chalk on the bar! The drinks and tapas prices were also very reasonable. The flamenco show lasted just over an hour and was really entertaining.
The main highlight though has to be the Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. We arrived just after 10am and started to wander around.
We watched the horses being exercised in the walker.
We then watched the saddlers making some of the horse tack. They are true craftsmen, everything is made by hand.
By the time we went back outside some of the horses were being exercised so we stood and watched them until it was time for the show.
The show was amazing and lasted about 1 ½ hours. Seeing is really believing the horsemanship is just at a level beyond brilliant.
After the show we had a walk through the palace which was stunning.
We loved Jerez and it was a real surprise as neither of us had any idea of what a great City this was. If you are in the area we think it should be a definite on everyone’s list.
