Jerez de la Frontera
The whole world has heard of the fortified Spanish wine that we call sherry. The English word sherry is a corruption of the name of Jerez de la Frontera, the Andalusian town where the wine is made.
With the Endeavour docked less than thirty miles away it would have been a crime not to visit a bodega, a winery. We chose Sandeman’s. After a tour of the barrels they gave us a light lunch of typical Spanish tapas, snacks of cold-cuts and potato omelet. I have to say that the jamon iberico, a cured ham, was some of the very best.
However, the highlight of the day was our visit to the Royal Equestrian School and the stars of the show were the horses and their riders. The stables are set in a beautiful botanical garden planted by a sherry winemaker with French ancestry. We walked slowly through these gardens to the large 1000-seat arena, which we had all to ourselves.
No one quite knew what to expect, but three-quarters of an hour later we were all enthralled, bewitched by the extraordinary dancing horses. Horses stood on their hind legs and waved and then they waltzed in time to the music, pranced crab-wise in figures of eight.
A young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen, rode her mount at a trot, her dappled stallion almost spinning in this fabulous equine ballet. There may be only a few us here at this difficult time, but our applause rang out, the enthusiasm of the clapping more than making up for the lack of numbers.
The whole world has heard of the fortified Spanish wine that we call sherry. The English word sherry is a corruption of the name of Jerez de la Frontera, the Andalusian town where the wine is made.
With the Endeavour docked less than thirty miles away it would have been a crime not to visit a bodega, a winery. We chose Sandeman’s. After a tour of the barrels they gave us a light lunch of typical Spanish tapas, snacks of cold-cuts and potato omelet. I have to say that the jamon iberico, a cured ham, was some of the very best.
However, the highlight of the day was our visit to the Royal Equestrian School and the stars of the show were the horses and their riders. The stables are set in a beautiful botanical garden planted by a sherry winemaker with French ancestry. We walked slowly through these gardens to the large 1000-seat arena, which we had all to ourselves.
No one quite knew what to expect, but three-quarters of an hour later we were all enthralled, bewitched by the extraordinary dancing horses. Horses stood on their hind legs and waved and then they waltzed in time to the music, pranced crab-wise in figures of eight.
A young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen, rode her mount at a trot, her dappled stallion almost spinning in this fabulous equine ballet. There may be only a few us here at this difficult time, but our applause rang out, the enthusiasm of the clapping more than making up for the lack of numbers.
