Our month here is at an end and we will miss this place. And we’re leaving in style, weather-wise as it has been in the md 30s for the past week. We took in the Cathedral de Jerez and the Cathedral of San Miguel a couple of days ago and as old churches go, these are pretty spectacular and well worth the tour. Amazing construction, very beautiful buildings, and you feel in awe just being inside them.
Wandering around the streets and squares we would often come across interesting cultural activities such as the groups of people singing or, for want of a better word, mariachi-style bands marching up and down the street with guitars and mandolins.
One day we were invited into someone’s garden as we were peering through the fence to take a look at a colorful display of plants, flowers, and a ‘painted’ tree.
For our last few days, the city put on a large party (probably not just for us) called the Feria del Caballo, the annual week-long horse related festival. Actually, it’s more a chaotic sherry drinking, flamenco dress-up party with horses and carriages running amuck. It’s held in an immense park stuffed with hundreds of ‘casetas’ (mini-houses owned by the likes of Sandeman, Harveys, and Tio Pepe) for eating, drinking, dancing, and extremely loud music. All of this is surrounded by a PNE style midway/exhibition complete with Ferris wheels, attractions, rides, stuffed toys, cotton-candy, and corn dogs (or whatever the sherry-flavored Spanish version is). Many people dress to the nines for this festival making it a ‘colorful’ outing.
There are events held elsewhere in the city for this week as well, notably the Plaza de Toros having bull fighting related shows (not our cup of tea), and the Fundacion Real Escuela Andaluza putting on special equestrian extravaganzas. And at the fairgrounds, there are various country dressage events, carriage exhibitions, and something called a National Bull Chase and Knock Down Competition. We left before that one got started. Not a good activity for seniors I’m guessin’. All in all though, major party time!
We will miss one our favorite eating places, Las Banderillas as well. Good food, noisy atmosphere, cheap drinks. A very popular joint and it’s often hard to get into. Fortunately, it was only 200 meters from where we were staying, so it was easy to check it out frequently.
Finally, we will miss our French bakery and Hervé who has supplied us with tasty breads, desserts, and Pain au Chocolat. We know this is Spain and the food here is good, but nobody does pastries like the French.
