Final days in Jerez area

By Wednesday 4th April 2018, we were the only vehicle in our area in the campsite, as our German neighbours had left to head home, the Belgians were leaving the day after us and the British were leaving next week. On Thursday, we moved to Seville, as part of the next leg in our travels. Before we left we had a few sessions of Boules, followed by drinks and tapas, of course!

Steve and Julie, Staf and Toni, Juliet and Susie, Leia and Hilda, Ian and David out of shot!

However before leaving, we spent a few days in Jerez, exploring areas that we have missed out on. Jerez is a large inland town, calm and chilled, full of history and culture, home to the most sherry Bodegas in the south of Spain. As you know, we have visited several and can now say we are fully conversant in the language of Sherry!!

Several times we have missed out on visiting the Alcazar in Jerez, so we headed there one morning. Its a Moorish fort, dating back to the 11th and 12th century, and declared a site of Cultural Interest in 1931. The quadrangle walls are almost 4000 metres long, half of which can be walked along, the octagonal Tower in the fort is still in excellent condition and an ornate 14th Century tower that has been annexed is fully intact. The mosque in the grounds is the only remaining mosque of eighteen originally in the city, and its minaret was turned into a bell tower following its conversion to a church in the 1200’s. The Palace building dates back to the 12th century and retains its original leisure pavilion. Remains of Roman baths can be seen and visited, they include an entrance area, the cold and tepid rooms, and the hot room, whose heating system is still partially visible. The system is linked outside to a water wheel, water storage area, bakery and water distribution system. They also have the remnants of an oil processing mill on site, showing how the massive beam was used to crush olives to a storage still below.