Visiting Jerez, exploring Sherry, and blending Las Palmas Part 2, in Jerez, and a good lunch at Arturo's
Jerez de la Frontera isn’t the prettiest
town in Spain, but it’s not the ugliest either. It has just over 200
000 inhabitants, and Sherry is the main business here. We spent an
hour or so wandering round, including a quick trip to see the
Alcazar, and a visit to the fabulous fish market.
The Alcazar is based on a moorish
fortress built in the 11th Century, and then a residence
and fortress used by the muslim occupants in the 12th
century. It then switched backwards and forth as the Christians
retook Jerez, then lost it again, and then a long time later took it
back. It’s quite beautiful.
The fish market, El Mercado Central de
Abastos, is a great sight. Some seriously delicious looking fish on
offer. It’s visually gorgeous, and the prices look to be really
reasonable.
Visiting bodegas is one of the big
tourist appeals in Jerez. Gonzalez Byass, as one of the bigger
bodegas, is well set up for receiving visitors. You get to wander
through all the different barrel halls. The oxidative ageing cellar,
with its old barrels, is particularly interesting because many of
the barrels are signed by celebrities who have visited.
There’s also a distinctive iron-built
cellar, called La Concha (below), which was designed by Alexandre Gustave
Eiffel (of tower fame) and built in 1862. It’s not a proper cellar –
more an events space. It’s quite beautiful.
And Rebollo (above): the original Tio Pepe solera
was here, with around 100 barrels.
We lunched at Bar Arturo (Calle Guita 9,
11408 Jerez De La Frontera, Andalucia +34 956 33 00 12), which is an
amazing tapas place specializing in fried fish. This was washed down
with Tio Pepe, which tasted fabulous in this setting. Arturo’s is
rightly a Jerez legend!