Return to Jerez

 It's been over three years since our last visit to Jerez de la Frontera so today we drove for just over an hour to the west of Olvera for another visit. Jerez is the largest city in the province of Cadiz with a population of over 200,000 inhabitants. 

 After finding an underground car park and with no particular plan we started our wanders. 

 The Town Hall.

 The Plaza Arenal.

 The rubbish collectors of Jerez have been in dispute with their employers for twenty days now resulting in mounds of rubbish accumulating on the streets. However, it appears that today an agreement has been reached and the dispute resolved. 

View to the Cathedral.

More by luck than judgement we came across the "Andalusian Flamenco Centre" and ventured inside for a look.

 The beautifully ornate central patio area.

Entrance was free and we wandered around the corridors admiring the drawings, paintings and other exhibits before sitting for a while watching a video in the cinema.

 A bonus was a stunning exhibition of paintings by Nigel Leach, British born but now living in Jerez. Pictured here "Fuego" - Fire.

 More information and pictures can be found on his Facebook page here.

 A sign of the times.

Not real...ornamental. I have to admit that Jerez is not my favourite place. Whether it's because of its size, its lack of small intimate plaza's that you find in other large towns such as Cadiz or Seville or even the time of year that we have visited (previously Feb 09), the atmosphere just feels busy and impersonal. Just a personal view and each to their own but it may be another three years before we return.

At last....Jerez

It's been just over two years now since our last visit to Jerez, cut short at the time by a call from the estate agent to return to Olvera to sign some documents, so a return visit was way overdue.

Jerez is a town of about 200,000 inhabitants, the largest in Cadiz province and just over an hours drive west of Olvera.

We arrived about 10.30 and parked the car in an underground car park in the Plaza Arenal, right in the central area of town. We emerged into bright sunshine with temperatures at about 17°C, lovely and warm and hopefully a taste of what is yet to come.

After a short stroll we came upon these chaps picking all the oranges from the trees.

As Jerez is quite a large town with many attractions to see, on this trip we restricted ourselves to a small area based upon and around the the Alcázar...the old moorish castle dating from the 12th century.

Pictured above and below are parts of the external wall.

After paying a very reasonable entrance fee of €3 we had a look around. Once inside, a series of courtyards lead off to different rooms and garden areas.

Natural light was used to illuminate the rooms through these star shaped openings in the roof.
















This room led to the "Banos Árabes" (Arab Baths), a series of cold, warm and hot baths, unfortunately no longer in use.

Just outside of the Alcázar is this statue dedicated to Manuel María González, founder of González Byass, one of the sherry companies for which Jerez is world famous.

The dome of the Cathedral is in the background.








The 18th century facade of the Cathedral.

Unusually and very pleasantly, entrance to the Cathedral was free and as a bonus there were also no restrictions on photography. So just a few pics of the beautifully ornate decoration within.

Amongst the many ornate artefacts within the Cathedral are some beautiful stained glass windows; the one right of St Paul and the one below showing St Peter.

In lovely sunshine, we continued with our stroll around, finding many pedestrian areas and small plaza's.
























































Many bars and restaurants had no doubt taken advantage of the weather with tables placed outside. We stopped and had a coffee in this small square just off the busy Calle Larga.

We passed this chap ably strumming away on his flamenco guitar. I could swear that he is the same guy that plays by the Cathedral in Cadiz!!.
Anyway, after a few hours it was time to head back to the car and the road home. Much more to see on another visit.

Much more info about Jerez can be found here.