Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
So having left Portugal and it’s wonderfully captivating country. We have headed over the board in search of a bit of history and culture from a Spanish perspective….
With Fred dog in tow, we decided to skip past the big popular tourist city of Sevilla, mentally marking that down for another trip in the future and onward toward something of an underdog in the world of touirsts…
As we started to cross Andalusia we noticed the villages change to the whitewashed houses that typify this region and our first stop region, Jerez de la Frontera, or Just Jerez to me and thee.
I think at this point, I get to sun up the other side of Vanlife, sometimes we are stopped looking over beautiful gorges or by stunning sea vistas, but tonight and for the next couple, we are in the slight odd but very safe feeling embrace of Camper and Van.
You could say that a there is a supermarket within 200 metres, a vast selection of bars and restaurants, a dog agility course at the end of the road. And a short walk into the historic town- What’s not to love ?
Obviously you would be also perfectly correct to say it’s secure parking on the edge of the retail park
This year, our favourite way to acquaint ourselves with the charms the cities we have visited has been by spending a a few hours just wandering around their beautiful old towns – And these parts of Jerez, are just as seductive, they draw you in and leave a lasting impression.
The Mercado is not the biggest or most diverse market we have ever been to, but it definitely one of the jolliest , The market is a traveller’s dream come true, friendship seeps out of every stall, the electricity is infectious, and they sell such fresh fruit, veg, meat & fish
The rest of the town centre felt gloriously untouched by tourism. The shops are typical of European high streets, but are dotted between local cafes and feature all of their original Spanish architecture, a fest for your eyes.
Jerez de la Frontera has had a reputation for producing incredible sherry right back to the days of the Phoenicians in 1100BC. Later the Moors introduced distillation, which produced brandy and other types of fortified wines and the big name found here Tio Pepe.
With the sunshine on full, we decided against a vineyard tour as leaving the dog for such a long time was likely to be unfair in the heat.
Our final stop of the day, the magnificent Cathedral of San Salvador, it is an impressive building, a complete mixture of styles, including Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo.
All in all Jerez de Frontera is an extremely interesting place to visit, so raise your glasses to the ‘Sherry Triangle’ and enjoy!
Paul.