Category: Spain (Page 11 of 16)

Sherry in El Puerto de Santa Maria

27 March 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We visited a Bodega in the town we are staying in, El Puerto de Santa Maria. Here, we learned that Bodegas are not “wine houses” where they manufacture, mature or bottle the liquids, they are simply “maturing houses”. The freshly pressed grape liquids have not yet been fermented and are placed into the oak barrels to ferment naturally and mature with age. However, as they empty from the bottom, fill from the middle then add the fresh liquids to the top barrels, no-one can genuinely say how old a sherry is!

Bodegas in this town have a unique qualification – they are ON the Guadalette River, literally some of the storage areas are on old Roman roads above the water bed. This location gives rise to the need for stone floors (very uncommon, usually sand or soil which retains the water that is added to create humidity). The stone floors become moist with the sea water which in turn creates a natural humidity within the storage area which is needed for nurturing the wines and as the barrels are open (not hermetically sealed) they absorb the sea humidity which gives the wines a destinctive salty edge.

The bottom barrel starts off as a fino (dry light yellow in colour) and they drain from the bottom; the 2nd criadera (middle level) is used to top up the bottom barrel. The top barrel is used to top up the middle barrel. The top barrel is finally filled with new wine.

The town has a restaurant who’s chef has 3 Michelin stars and he visits the Bodega simply to buy the sherries from this supplier – Gutierrez Colosia. This Bodega was built in 1838 to supply major sherry houses in the area (they blend within their own Bodegas) but started their own label in only 1998. Dry sherry is made from only Palomino grapes grown locally which also have a saltiness to them and sweet sherry is made from Moscatel grapes, again locally grown, but 20% are taken off the vines and left in the sun to dry (they become raisins) before being added to the grape juice.

Here, they also produce 6 different varieties of sherry, as well as making brandy, and sherry vinegar.

The alcohol evaporates and creates the black marks on the ceiling/roof.

We were invited to smell the “flor/yeast” in a barrel – it was disgusting…similar to rotten eggs or a dead animal!!! Apparently, this is a good smell as the flora is active.

This is a display of their oldest and original brands, approx. 140 years old! The barrels are still full.

Finally, we were invited to sample their products!

Left to right: Fino (very dry almond flavour); Amontillado (very dry nutty flavour); Oloroso (dry, mahogany colour, oak taste); Cream (semisweet, sweetened with Pedro Ximenez, easy texture); Moscatel (Sweet, sweetened by adding sun dried grapes, dark colur, raisin flavour); and finally Pedro Ximenez (very sweet using sun dried grapes, flavours of fig and candied fruit)

We all tried out 6 different sherries, followed by a glass of brandy, before tottering off to the local bar for something to eat!!! We returned back to the trailer for a 2 hour nap – I think that’s officially known as a “siesta”!!!

‘,

Jerez Andalusian Horse Show

6 March 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We went to Jerez to visit the Andalusian horse equestrian centre; sadly we were unable to take many pictures but I hope that you enjoy the ones we did manage to get. The horses were beautiful, bought on individually and in groups to showcase their skills at walking sidways, prancing to a musical beat and the skills of their riders at performing intricate passes. They also bought out carriages that have been used for years at shows.

Within the grounds of the equestrian centre was a mansion housing equestrian memorabilia and also an open workshop showing the specialist braiders making the tassells, saddles and bridles for the horses.

Pictures of the Palace:

Pictures in the tack room:

The stables outside.

The arena building.

‘,

Debris from Storm Emma

5 March 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

Usually a beautiful clean sandy beach with the shoreline a good 200metres away, the storm Emma hit El Puerto de Santa Maria on Wednesday 28th February bringing high winds, severe rain and tonnes of debris.

This was our lovely bay when we arrived 6 weeks ago. Gently lapping waves on a yellow sand strip……heaven.

This was our bay on Saturday morning. Apart from the tonnes of glass and plastic bottles, plastic bags, bits of rope, pot plant containers, umbrellas, tin cans and metal items, there was soo much water that the beach had gone! The waterline was 10 feet away!!

Some strange debris was left behind….
However on Sunday morning the shoreline had receeded so far that the rocks were exposed and the beach had become a rock scape….

How queer!!! What a wonderful world we live in!!’,

Jerez – History and Sherry

5 March 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We have been to Jerez de la Frontera (pronounced Hereth) several times now, it’s such a lovely quiet city and there is so much to see and do.

Primarily, it’s the capital of the Andulician horse culture; secondly it’s the home of several large sherry producers and their bodegas and thirdly, it’s the home of Spanish flamenco. The stories within the flamenco tales originated from the neighbourhoods of Santiago and San Miguel on the outskirts of Jerez and are told within the penas (small private clubs) or in tourist organised venues. Jerez is home to a large Gipsy community, who settled in the 18th century and who handed down the wealth of songs and styles to generations after them. The Gypsies only recently gained respect for their contribution to the Flamenco although they had always been considered the best interpreters of this art form.

The striking white Andulucian horses are based at the Andalucian School of Equestrian Art where horses and riders are trained in equestrian skills; the school also houses a Horse Carriage Museum and weekly shows are held on a Thursday where handsome white horses and liveried riders show off their skills and tricks to classical music. I will post photos of these separately.

Cathedral

The City has a Cathedral built into a hill with an Alcazar (fort) behind it, and is a small bustling town of churches, plazas, markets and small retail shops as well as Tapas bars and restaurants. The Cathedral was constructed over 80 years and finally blessed as a Catholic church in 1778. It was thought it may eventually become a cathedral so it was built with beauty and grandeur, local authorities requested this upgraded status several times but it was not until 1980 that their wish was fulfilled when Pope John Paul II granted a Bill in May 1984 creating a new Church Chapter formed by 12 canons and it officially became a Cathedral.

A tower which stands to one side detached from the cathedral belongs to a former church on the site which was demolished in 1695. It has two sections: the lower one, in Mudejar-Gothic style, dates back to the 15th century, and the upper one built by Juan de Pina in the 17th century but it is currently being renovated and not open to the public. Both structures dominate the city’s skyline and can be seen from far away.

The large building is in the Baroque style, built purely of stone from Sierra de San Cristobel nearby, and the interior is Baroque and neoclassical style, tall pillars of stone support carved domes, the main dome being 40 metres high. The construction of the church was, at the time, extremely expensive and it was mostly financed by the Spanish Kings Charles II, Louis I and Charles III who contributed with part of the taxes they used to collect from the wine brewed in this area. Pope Innocent XIII and Benedict XIII also helped with the so-called grace of the “misas alcanzadas”(obtained masses).

Aerial view of the Cathedral and the Tower.

Town Views

San Miguel Church. 15th Century Gothic build.

This is the El Gallo Azul building, the Blue Cockerel. It is one of the most attractive buildings in the City and a good landmark; it was built by the Domecq company and given to the city to coincide with the 1929 Expo in Seville. It was originally a restaurant and earned many food awards and destinctions. Sadly it is now closed.

The Alzahar stands behind the Cathedral, on top of a hill. Built in the 11th Century by the Moors, its intact walls are 4000m long, the Octagonal Tower overlooks the keep. Inside is the only remaining mosque in the city. The minaret, still extant, was turned into a bell tower. The praying hall, features a mihrab, confirm the direction of Mecca, and the Baths inlude an area for undressing, leading to the cold and tepid rooms, the latter being the largest in the complex. The final room is the hot room, whose heating system is still partially visible.

The quadrangle within the Alcazahar, originally a leisure pavilion.

Entrance to the market.

Sherry/Xeres in Jerez – First Visit Fundador

Sherry can only be made in the Magic Sherry triangle, Jerez de le Frontera, Sanluicar de Barrameda and Puerto de Santa Maria (where we are based) , anything made to resemble sherry outside this area is not the real McCoy!!! It was originally called Xeres, named by the Muslims who occupied the area from around AD711 after the Romans, the Moors introduced distillation to create wine and brandy. It now has protected Designation of Origin status.

Image result for sherry triangle map

We have learned this by attending not just one but two tours of Bodegas!! The sand and clay soils are perfect for growing white grapes which are used to make wine and distilled pure alcohol is added to create different strengths and tastes. The first bodega we visited was Fundador, home of Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry and Terrys Brandy. We learned that the storage areas are blackened by the alcohol evaporating upwards and they use a three tier system – liquid is removed from the bottom barrels, about a third is bottled. The bottom barrel is filled from the middle barrel and the middle barrel is filled from the top one, the top one beoing topped up with the latest batch that year. This means you can never tell the true age of a sherry!!

This Bodega’s storage (belonging to Fundador) claimed to be one of the largest in the world, it stores 46,000 barrels each containing 600 litres.

The interior of the storage bodega, maintained at 18C constantly.

These barrels show the different types being created, fino (dry) at the top, Amontillado in the middle and Cream at the bottom (sweet).

They also have a small museum, showcasing their original old stills that make the pure alcohol, as well as carriages that used to deliver the sherry.

One of their original old stills.

As you can see, they won an award for the World’s Best Wine……to buy a bottle was 260. Could not justify buying one only to then drink it!!!

Several celebrities have visited the bodega, and get to sign a barrel in their honour.

Tio Pepe/ Gonzalez Byass Visit

We then went to a bigger Bodega and learned how in 1835 Manuel Gonzalez left a banking job, aged just 23, and bought a small business making Sherry and wines. He was later joined by his English agent, Robert Blake Byass and the Tio Pepe brand was dedicated to Manuel’s Uncle in later years. This was a bigger bodega, with more ranges as they produce sherry, wines (red and white), brandies and other spirits (off site) in conjunction with other manufacturers.

This is the personal store of barrels laid down by Manuel Gonzales, in the 1800s.

Visited by more celebrities, who are able to leave their names….

These are two archived store rooms, kept as they were found, with old equipment and bottles.

The Tio Pepe Weather vane is said to be one of the largest in the world and has been recognised by the Guinness book of records.

In Tio Pepe, they operate a 4 tier system, 4 stacked and yet never rotated, just emptied at the bottom and filled at the top.

And finally…..they have a fabulous eatery where you can book a private dining table or just sample tapas at a tasting bar.

We opted for the 4 different types, as opposed to just 2, and had refills!!!

And finally, the tales of Flamenco Dancing & Andalucian Horses will be posted separately!

‘,

Splendiferous Seville

2 March 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

One day this month (Saturday 24th February 2018), we hit an all time record – 23,296 steps, all around Seville! This equated to 16.6km, or 10.3 miles and resulted in swollen sore feet, aching knees and a desire to return for more.

Ole, Seville….

Seville is such a colourful city and so large and spacious that we hardly covered all of it, in fact we are planning a return trip to visit the historic buildings that we didn’t have time to go into. We took a guided tour of the main areas and learned all about Christopher Columbus (yes, really…..a Spanish guide who liked to talk about the intrepid explorer) and the reason for so many beautiful diverse buildings – the influence of the Phoenecians, the Moors, the Romans, the Arabs and finally the Christians..

The streets were wider than usual allowing for pedestrians, cyclists and trams to blend together, the pavements are clean and colourful, the monuments well maintained, the bars and restaurants were enticing and the people seemed to be very chilled and relaxed, and so well dressed, we felt like we were expecting everyone to head off to a wedding or a celebrity birthday party.

Expo sevilla 1929 poster.jpg

All this resulted from the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, a world fair held in Seville from 9 May 1929 until 21 June 1930. The purpose of the exposition was to improve relations between Spain and the countries in attendance, all of which have historical ties with Spain through colonization (parts of Spanish America and the United States) or political union. To accomodate all the important guests an impressive hotel was built and named after the current King of Spain, King Alfonso XIII, located in the town square within walking distance of the Cathedral and Fort; each country built it’s own “Pavilion” so the 19 years of preparation created palacial size new buildings many of which became foreign Consulates after the Expo. By far the most impressive of the Spanish buildings is the Hotel Alfonso XIII, next to the university. This was built as a palace to accommodate that king’s family and important guests at the Expo. Refurbished in 2011/2012, the five-star hotel has grand roomss with beautiful tiles, classic contemporary and antique furniture, and all mod cons one would expect of a high class hotel; it is said that Madonna and ‘one of her husbands’ spent a month in the Royal Suite for her honeymoon at a rate of 6,000 per night.

Spain itself built a number of pavilions, many of which mixed Mudejar style, very fashionable at the time, with Art Deco and Regionalism. The most famous one of these is the massive Plaza de España, designed as the Pabellon de Andalucia, (Pavilion of Andalucia) inside the park itself, and the masterpiece of the Expo. With its red bricks, towers and ceramics, it is a typically Spanish building, though on a far grander scale than other monuments of the time. Each region of Spain was represented by ceramic seating areas outside on the ground level.

Seville also held another Expo in 1992, the same year as the Barcelona Olympics. This time around, the theme was the “Age of Discovery” to showcase progress to the 1980’s and to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus (1492-1992). The expo was to be jointly held with the City of Chicago, however, due to national, state, and local funding difficulties, Chicago did not accept the offer. The site was based outside the city in an area that is now a research and development park, and a fantasy theme park open to the public. The impressive “pavilions” were again built by participating countries but this time they were temporary structures removed at the end of the Expo.

LEFT IS THE MOROCCAN PAVILION AND RIGHT IS THE JAPANESE PAVILION

Below are some photos that showcase the city’s splendour.

The Largest Cathedral In The World:

The immense Cathedral has so many different exterior views. Built in the early 16th century, Seville Cathedral is the largest Cathedral and the third-largest church in the world as well as the largest Gothic church with a total area of 23,500 square meters. The Gothic section alone has a length of 126 meters, a width of 83 meters and its maximum height in the center of the transept is 37 meters. The total height of the Giralda tower from the ground to the weather vane is 96 meters. Since the world’s two largest churches (the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida and St. Peter’s Basilica) are not the seats of bishops, Seville Cathedral is still the largest cathedral in the world. It has 8 different entrance doors and inside are 80 chapels…….no we have not been in each one!!!