#26- JEREZ - A GLASS OF SHERRY

#26

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA

SPAIN

From:           Marbella 

To:                Jerez

Distance:       141km / 80 miles

Time:            1.5 hours

Climate:        27C -80F

JEREZ - A GLASS OF SHERRY

Hello!! Welcome back!! I hope you missed my blog for the past few weeks? Ah... I got a big lazy but I have had many requests so... here I am again. Thanks for everyone who has followed along. There's plenty of room in the back seat. I am stopping to pick everyone up again so hop in... This time I am picking you up to go to....

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA 

and you may be asking - "Why Jerez, Jasmine?"

Well... a few weeks ago it was my birthday and Bob asked the famous question - "Jasmine where would you like to go?" Well I didn't want to go to the beach since it was just in front of us.

and...

I didn't want to go to the mountain since it was just behind us.

so instead I said for something different... let's go to a flat place

and in Spain flat is not always easy to find...

so I picked a place in-between the Mediterranean and the mountains

somewhere flat....

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA 

a few facts.....

1. Only 1.5 hour drive from where we live

2. known for it's Sherry production ( more about this later for you Sherry lovers)

3. is a municipality in the Provence of Cadiz in autonomous community of Andalusia

4. Fifth largest city in Andalusia with over 200,000 people

5. One of the largest horse breeding and show areas in the country

6. Of course - wine growing area....

7. It is THE largest exporter of Sherry

8. Ruins which prove the existence of the Phoenicians

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Here, follow along to see old and modern Jerez......

LOCAL DAILY MARKET:

Freshly caught fish... a Spanish food staple

LOCAL VEGETABLE MARKET:
Such delicious fruits and vegetables.... my daily addiction!!!

Take a close look at the FRESH FIGS and the every so plump juicy huge cherries! Yes we bought both and ate them before we left the stand!! Price was about $3.00/pound

LOCAL BEER PRICES:

Bob and I stopped to have his daily 5pm beer. This local cafe offered a draft beer for .50 euro cents ($.75cents). Well needless to say he didn't have one at those prices! Prices in this town were less than the beachside resort town we live in! 

LOCAL SHERRY & HISTORY:

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes from Jerez. In Spanish it is called Vino de Jerez. Jerez has a wine culture since wine making was introduced by the Phoenicians in 11BC. The practice continued by the Romans when they took control of Iberia in 200BC. The Moors conquered the  in 711AD and introduced distillation which led to the development of brandy and fortified wine which is Sherry. Thus Jerez became the center of Sherry due to the Arabs (Moors) and still continues to this day - five centuries later!

Christopher Columbus brought Sherry to the New World on his voyage and introduced it to the West. Because Sherry was a major wine export to the UK, many of todays Jerez Bodegas were founded by British families and still continue to be owned by them instead of the Spanish. 

LOCAL ARCHITECTURE :

Most of the interesting Architecture in Jerez dates back to the birth of the Renaissance from the 15th-17th Century including Gothic & Baroque designs.  Prior to that, little is left of the Moors 800 year reign in this region except the amazing and well preserved Alcazar of Jerez. ( below)

Many of the styles host Arab style entrances 

LOCAL VEGETATION:

Fresh fig tree - yummy

Oh course - there isn't a place in Spain where you can't find a fresh Olive Tree - their staple for Virgin Olive Oil - 

Lettuce!

FRESH BEANS!

HERB - MELISA - great tea for tummy ache

LOCAL WEDDING STYLES:

beautiful simple yet elegant style for a outside summer wedding

THE ALCAZAR OF JEREZ

12th-18th Century
Entry fee E3.00/$4.50

The Alcazar of Jerez is one of the most important and well preserved monuments in the city.  It was built in the 12th century and one of the few examples left on the Iberian Peninsula of the Almohade architecture. Alcazar comes from the Arab word - al-qasr which means a group of buildings - surrounded by walls - encompassing both a palace and a fortress.

OIL MILL - Growing of Olive Tress was very important in Jerez until the 19th century when vineyards took over in importance versus olive groves. The oil mill dates back to the middle of the 18th century. It was owned by the Villavicencio family.

The olives were milled here until they became a paste. The olives were cleaned, poured into the wooden box which was called the hopper, then it would fall on a round stone on a base - the bed stone. A mule would walk around the bed stone which then moved the stone around to grind it. The grindstone as it was called crushed the olives to make the paste.
The work was done in the winter and the fireplace was lit during the entire day. The paste was put between a grass mat and then pressed by a block. A beam was lowered and pressed thus pressing liquid which ran along a channel into a tank in the floor.
The pure oil with the lower density remained on the top while the impurities sank to the bottom thus separating the oils.

During the 12th Century Jerez became one of the most important cities in Lower Andalusia because of the grandiosity of the Alcazar. It covered 4 kilometers (2.5miles) with over 46 hectares (115 acres) and a population of 16000 people. 

Remaining today -
Two ages - Mosque - Arab Baths - Tower - Palace - Part of the Mill- Grounds

This courtyard dates back to the Al- Andalus period.

TOWER 
Buit in 1471.
It was originally surrounded by a moat. It was the last defensive. It has a semi basement and three floors.From the 2nd floor there is access to the chamber of the islamic tower.

The mosque is one of the only mosques that still exists from the 18 mosques of the Islamic city. It dates back to the 12th century and has a typical element of the religious building. King Alfonso who conquered the city in 1264 consecrated this mosque to Christian worship and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary.
HAMMAN

The Arab baths (Hamman) were for private use. They were also constituted for religious obligations as well as pleasures. They had three rooms according to temperatures. 

- A cold room - a transit area before entering the wet area

- A warm room- the largest area - Here people were given massages and had their bodies soaped. 

- The hot room. This is where steam baths were taken. The temperature in this room was very high because it was close to the boiler and because of the underground heating system. 

Pharmacy -

LOCAL CATHEDRAL:
17th Century
Architecture: Baroque - Gothic- Neoclassical

Spa - moorish modern day spa's

LOCAL AND MOST FAMOUS SHERRY:

TIO PEPE:

So let me know - do you like Sherry? Have you ever tasted Tio Pepe? Or any other Spanish Sherry? Well for those of you who know me, you know I really don't like to drink and the taste of Sherry is certainly not my taste.

But Sherry from Jerez is very well known and well liked. And that is what makes a trip to Jerez so well worth it - the tours, the free Sherry tasting ... all the Bodegas - all the Sherry - everywhere you turn - makes Jerez a Sherry of a town!!
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Oh I do have to tell you something fun which happened to us on our way back. You know Bob - my birthday driver - the same guy who drove 1500 kilometers in one day without blinking - well! For some reason on our way back this time from Jerez - only 1.5 hours away I decided to let him drive. I was kinda tired ( probably from the Sherry tasting) decided to put my head to rest. All of a sudden I felt the car jerk to the side. I jumped up and only to see that Bob was sleeping while driving on the highway. What a fright! It was broad daylight. Only 6 o'clock in the afternoon! 


Well - can you imagine?!?!?! I think it was that cheap beer or the Sherry or the fact that we really have gotten a bit lazy lately and can't seem to do all that running around like we were doing... so.. I took over driving and Bob took a siesta in the passengers seat. 


Stayed tuned to see where we went next and especially who was behind the wheel..
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Thanks for joining me again... I hope I haven't lost my touch and you stayed in the back seat.. let me know... I can't turn my head and look in the back seat while I am driving so scream and let me know if you are back there.. post post post comments... tell me what you like, what  you don't like or even if you want me to stop sending you these blogs... I won't be offended. I promise.
Comments.. comments... comments.. they are so fun to read..

night night....
Happy 4th of July to those in the USA!!

(p.s. feel free to send my posts to anyone you want - the more the better)


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