Category: Europe (Page 2 of 20)

El Puerto de Santa Maria

31 March 2026 / Juliet Stratton

Our first day in the town was spent as a Tourist, visiting the Castle, Palacio, bullring, mercado and the Basilica.

First stop was at the San Marcos Castle. It looks like a castle, and is called a castle but once inside you realise its much more – a 13th century fort built on a mosque, a christian church added on and a bodega, influenced by the Romans, Phoenicians, Andalucians and Christian King’s and Dukes. Finally the Caballero Group (wine merchants) took the building over in the last century and modernised it so that it’s now an Asset of Cultural Importance.

So in summary, its a castle, a mosque, a church, a Bodega and a beautiful building!

Next we wandered around the Aranibar Palacio and learned the history of El Puerto de Santa Maria, an important port and commercial city located at the mouth of a river coming from the sherry triangle, passing Cadiz and onto America. With this trade came money, and traders who had money to build large Palacial houses, creating a town known as “The city of a hundred palaces”.

The houses were built around a central courtyard, on three floors with a mezzanine, and opposite to British or colonial houses, the servants lived on the top floor and storage was on the ground floor with living accommodation on the first and second floors. Many palaces included a tower, a chapel and wine cellars. The Aranibar Palace is one such house made of limestone, decorated in Spanish marble and walnut and mahogany from America.

Then we walked around to look at the exterior of the bullring, a pretty modern looking building that was built between 1877 and 1880, a 60 sided polygon with a diameter of 99 meters, owned by the local council and still operating today.

Then we mooched around the local market before looking at the Basilica and Plaza Espana, indulging in tapas and sherry and watching the antics of the storks nesting on the Basilica parapet.

A Day in Cadiz

29 March 2026 / Juliet Stratton

After exploring our base of El Puerto de Santa Maria one day, the next day we took the small ferry boat across the bay into the relatively small city of Cadiz. A beautiful calm crossing there and back. It was so clear, we could make out the naval ships in the Spanish/American base of Rota, a little further up the coast.

The day started with breakfast of coffee and massive croissants in Plaza de Espana, the main square. Afterwards we meandered through its narrow streets to the cathedral, buzzing in preparation of the forthcoming Easter celebrations.

We then headed around the city edges to one of its old forts, for a drinks break. Lunch was tapas in the market before chilling in some cool gardens before getting back on the late afternoon ferry.

We managed to look inside one or two churches that are preparing for Easter.

The “Sherry” Birthday in Cadiz

29 March 2026 / Juliet Stratton

In the (much younger) past, David would spend his birthday with my brother, exploring a city and its beers. Eventually this extended to a long weekend, with more exotic locations and different friends. This year he has opted for a long month in the sherry area of Cadiz and El Puerto de Santa Maria, a place we both love and know from our Samson and Suzi travelling days.

We arrived two weeks ago and have just been joined by some family and friends. We’ve rented an apartment right in the town centre, a 5 minute walk from the highly ornate Basilica which is the central point for all of the town’s Easter Penitence parades. We have a second floor view over a pedestrianised area that leads directly to the Plaza Espana, in front of the Basilica. It was imperative that we introduce them to sherry, a drink usually synonymous with people of an older age but drunk in Spain in this area by every generation so we booked into a tour of the Guiterrez Colosia Bodega, right on the banks of the Guadalete river.

Historical info first- the sherry vineyards are located in a specific area around Cadiz, created by chalky soil and seawater sediment, dating back to 1100BC when the Phoenicians planted vines, the Romans who established the first quality controls insisted that wines from this area be marked with AAAA but it wasn’t until 1264AD that the Arabs named this area “Sherish” that the word sherry was formed. In the 17th century investors from Holland, Scotland and England boosted production, hence the export and import of the product, assisted by ships built in the port that travelled to other Mediterranean areas and the UK.

We were told that this Bodega was started in 1838, assisted by wind and moisture in the area which created a perfect growing conditions for the Palamino, Moscatel and Pedro Ximinez grapes used in the wines. The proximity to the river ensures the perfect humidity to create a “flora” or natural yeast to ferment to wine further, Sherry is a fortified aged wine, aged using a Solera system. We learned about the old American oak barrels that are anything up to 60 years old and the solera system of mixing ensures a consistent level of quality and taste.

The Guiterrez family took over the Bodega at the beginning of the 20th Century so descendents of Jose Dosal Guiterrez, their great grandfather, still work in the business.

The solera system works by removing a quantity of wine for bottling from the bottom barrels, that quantity is replaced from barrels in the middle row, and the middle barrels are topped up by wines in the barrels on the top row. The top rows are the only ones filled up with new wine, so blending downwards can always produce a consistent product regardless of the uality of the latest years’ crop. However, the barrels are only ever emptied by a third, maximum, so some of the wine in the barrel could be up to 180 years old!!

In 1969 the family bought the Palace of the Count of Cumbrehermosa Cargedor de Indias and extended into the building and cellars, expanding the storage and bottling capacity and also creating a bar and restaurant that promotes and uses its wines within its recipes.

The lunch that followed was accompanied by 6 glasses of sherry, ranging from very dry to dry, sweeter then very sweet. Each course was to be eaten with a specific sherry. An interesting and tasty afternoon out!

Quick Update for 2024

6 January 2024 / Juliet Stratton

Happy New Year to all our friends and family! We are very much looking forward to a new year of travel, exploration and fun!! We’ve had a disastrous summer last year, travel wise….after leaving Spain to head to cooler climes in Northern Europe, our travels were quite quickly halted by a series of issues. Benny (Kia Sorento) developed a noisy, expensive sounding “clonk” at every bump and the boot developed a mind of it’s own, shutting when open. Bessy was also groaning after having spent half a year in 50 degree sun drying out her internal mechanics, one day the water pump stopped working, the next day the toilet pump died then utter disaster!!! the fridge stopped chilling the beers, so we dashed from Southern France to Bilbao, got on the next boat back to the UK to locate an available repair shop. We did try very hard to locate one in France and Spain but they took one look at Bessy and said “No! Eengleesh. No parts in Spain” and so we limped back……

Fast forward a few months….. Benny has been upgraded to a shining newer Kia Sorento with 6 years warranty remaining, hopefully alleviating any excessive bills for the next few years. Bessy has been fully winterised and is very happy in her new home in storage in East Yorkshire, covered in a centrally heated fleecy blanket, surrounded by lots of other lovely caravans. We were able to take Bessy (and a friend) out to the Yorkshire Dales in August for a week’s testing and made sure all the mechanics were up and running and we CAN CONFIRM that beer and wines were chilling to perfection, toilet was flushing and water was flowing!! She’s a happy Bessy again!!

This month, our passports are being flexed, opened and stamped again – we are heading off to Goa, the first time since lockdown in March 2020!! We left a few suitcases with a friend we met there – hoping to return to collect them the next year, but that hasn’t happened until now, when some 3 years later the Indian government allowed British citizens to reapply for travel visas. In December, I was so excited to learn that our suitcases contain a hair dryer and lots of clothing, I only hope they still fit us!! Only a few days before we find out!!!

Our plan is to return to Spain in March and maybe spend a month abroad somewhere else, yet undecided. We plan to return to the UK in June, collect Bessy and head to Bavaria for a few weeks, before heading back to Spain. Maybe, later in the year, we may travel to Malaysia, New Zealand or Africa…..it’s an option, the world is our oyster! Watch this space!!

Castles and Cobbles in Spain

2 April 2023 / Juliet Stratton

Following a short travel hiatus, we are on the move again, just us two and Benny the car. Bessy will be enjoying a sunny holiday in storage in Torrevieja until the summer.

David and I have left Torrevieja for a few months to relight our travelling wanderlust, starting with a return to the UK for essential services, Doctor, MOT, dentist etc. Our route up to the ferry has taken us from the Alicante area, north through the La Mancha wine region to Toledo, north through Madrid to the Duero wine area then up to Santander. This post is a diary of our journey. Our next post should be from Dubai or Vietnam, fingers crossed 🤞.

Driving up from Alicante towards Albacete, we were surprised by the number of roadside castles and forts, all stunningly perched on hilltops, surrounded by rows of heavily trimmed grape vines, pink blossoming almond trees and white blossom cherry trees. Some castles were surrounded by windmills perched on the crest of the hills.

TOLEDO – World Heritage Site

Fact: there are over 20 churches, chapels and synagogs, one Cathedral and one Mosque as well as several convents in Toledo, thanks to its Christian, Islamic and Judaism roots and more recently Catholic influence, that’s almost one on every street corner. This partly walled medieval city is heaving with tiny cobbled streets, steep hills and ancient buildings, dating back to Roman times (128BC) and the old areas still exist within this modern looking clean city. The Jewish Quarter is full of dusty workshops with monacled men in waistcoats tapping away at silver jewellery and tea sets, as well as the famous Toledo steel knives. Toledo is also famous for its silk and the hand made roof tiles found throughout the City, AND, its very narrow streets!

The centre is dominated by a huge Gothic cathedral, a large college and so many architecturally stunning buildings all accessed through streets so narrow that locals have permanent scrapes on the rear wheel arches of their cars. Taxis whizz around the streets, buzzing through strolling tourists without any problems, at night the traffic can only be described as manic until 9pm, when locals are jam packed in restaurants and the streets become the opposite – deadly quiet. The only constant noise is the rushing of the Tagus river.

At night the buildings took on an ethereal look, cool and calming yet bright and invitingly stunning.

Here’s one for the ladies, a snapshot of several exquisite Llaudro ornaments!

Price tags, a tad over €25,000!!!

SANTA MARIA DE LA VID MONASTERY

It was recommended to us that we stop halfway between Madrid and Burgos on our way to the Ferry Port, and what a lovely stop it was. After a long day walking the streets of Toledo, we experienced relaxation and quiet at this ex Monastery Hotel, in a little village way off the beaten track.

In the Duero valley, right on the Duero River, the monastery was originally founded in 1152 and was run by a Dominican Order until the mid 1800s when it closed for a few decades. Opening again by the Order of St Augustine it was run until 1991, closing with plans to change its use to a hostelry and conference centre, retaining the working church and various museums which are open to the public.

To top it off, next door was a Bodega and restaurant offering the most amazing wine and food! We stopped there during the area’s Tapas Route, this was their contribution, a crispbake with the lightest ever jamon topped with a fresh salsa and violet mayonnaise……simply heaven!

In the late afternoon, the Monastery was open for a tour, despite it being fully in Spanish, I thoroughly enjoyed the peace, tranquility and splendour of the building.

Dinner that night was outstanding, cheese pancake to start, cook your own steak…. but Dessert was the highlight. I couldn’t decide between Green Apple sorbet with a coconut foam or Violet ice cream so we ordered both!!