Wednesday, 30 September, 2015

Today we leave Seville and go into the mountains. Our bus picks us up after breakfast. Our first stop is in a town called Jerez de la Frontera where we go to a Sherry winery Bodegas Tradición. Their website is quite illuminating.

Sherry Bodega in Jerez

http://www.bodegastradicion.es/index.php/en/#

It is explained to us that this winery does not grow or crush any grapes. Instead, they buy in pressed grape juices and the skill of the wine maker is what makes their Sherry. It is considered a small Bodegas.

After the tour of the facilities they provide us with a generous tasting of some of their Sherries. Some in the group don’t care for Sherry and I can’t say it is on my normal purchase list, but if it is a good one I will try it. These were not bad. (As an aside a couple of years ago Frank put on a special lunch with impressive Sherries at Movida Next Door for International Sherry Day. Sadly, this year is conflicts with Spring Carnival so no go).

The Bodegas is also famous for its art collections from a range of well known artists from over time e.g. Zurbarán, Velázquez, Hiepes, El Labrador, Valdés Leal, Goya, Maella, Lucas Velázquez, Madrazo, Lucas Villamil, Carlos de Haes…and some others.

Again I refer you to the website:

http://www.bodegastradicion.es/index.php/en/art

I finish the examination of the artwork and sit down with a bit of Sherry. Julie comes to take pictures of me and then a number of the others in the group do the same – I went viral.

One other arty thing that the Bodegas does is to put on special exhibitions. Here is a photo from one of the slightly grotesque range:

We get back on the bus and head to a seaside, Atlantic Ocean, town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. Our first stop is a market primarily featuring seafood.

We then go off looking for a couple of Tapas bars.

As one can see, out the front is quite crowded. I went inside with the group and it was worse. So I wandered back outside in the hope that some tables would clear. A very young girl, like 8YO, approached and I did not know what to expect. She asked if we would like a table for a large group. Well of course I said yes and went in and asked Frank to have a look. They set up a row of tables, and chairs, in the lane way to the other side of the restaurant. Very comfortable and very nice.

The kitchen was just on the other side of us and when they would finish a dish they would yell out to us and the guys would go in to grab our food.

Good stuff. We get on the bus and drive down to the sea shore and select one of several Tapas bars that are side by side. We aren’t as lucky with the tables this time, we manage to get a few small ones but the chairs / stools were limited.

It is time to go to our final destination for the day – continue on to the whitewashed village of Vejer de la Frontera. Note: that there are a large number of “white villages” all over Southern Spain. One of the reasons was they were whitewashed to kill the Plague.

Our Hotel, La Botica, is in a series of very old buildings. It is an absolute rabbit warren with lots of passages and stairs. We love it. See the following for a range of pictures.

https://www.wotif.com/Vejer-De-La-Frontera-Hotels-La-Botica.h2530032.Hotel-Information?chkin=15%2F10%2F2015&chkout=16%2F10%2F2015

We have a balcony, not quite private as others can use it too, with a great view of the house on the hill – F.W. Dixon – and the sites around. Naturally, I decide to have a rest and, even more, naturally Julie goes for a prance around the village. The following are some of her photos.

That night we had been scheduled to dine at the “Best Steakhouse in Andalucía” but it is apparently closed for the summer (September?). Instead we go to a Moroccan restaurant, El Jardin del Califa, which is actually right next to the Hotel. For more details about this restaurant and others in Vejer, please refer to the website

http://www.anniebspain.com/vejer-de-la-frontera/restaurants/

We will talk a lot more about Annie B in tomorrow’s post. In Annie’s discussion of El Jardin del Califa is a photo of the owner. He joins us and gives us some background about the buildings we are in and the establishment of the restaurant. It is attached to the Hotel – we enter through the restuarant and then depart straight into the Hotel at the end. We are having the famous Mezze.

So we trudge out down and up stairs to our room to crash. An amazing day, I suspect tomorrow will not be quiet either.

Tuesday, 29 September, 2015

We start out the day after brekkie with a trip to a Jamon factory.

We learn later that there are around 1 million hams hanging in the factory. At a rough average price of e400 per ham, that is quite a business.

Before the tour of the factory, we drive out to one of the farms where the pigs are raised – on acorn to provide the special flavour. There is a fair walk from the bus drop off to the farm and there are three fords of a stream which lead to wet feet etc. It turns out that there were bridges that we mostly missed.

We walk up the hill to another field where several pigs are living and roaming.

We walk back to the bus with this time all the group walking over the bridges to miss the fords.

When the tour is over we get rid of our sterile clobber and go to a tasting area.

The tour and tasting ends and we thank our host. We go outside and there are a whole bunch of vintage Jaguars.

We drive to another nearby town for a Jamon lunch.

We jump back onto the bus to go back to Seville. We have an interesting night in front of us.

At the break, Anna and Julie are taught Flamenco moves

We then went out for a dinner, as if we really needed it.

Well, that is the end of Day 3. It was packed with activities and food. It took me several days to finish this post and still 11+ days of Posts to go.

Monday, 28 September, 2015

After breakfast, the group starts out on a lenghty walking tour of Seville.

The Group was then to go into the Cathedral. There was a very long queue and frankly, I have seen enough churches in my time. So I decided to rest in a cafe across the street while they waited in the queue and then toured the Cathedral.

There were a large number of horse and buggies giving tourist rides. In the time I spent there waiting I did not see one get a customer.

After the tour ended, exactly one Sangria long, we walked to one of the many restaurants for lunch.

A very impressive lunch and along with last night’s dinner means I am getting a better impression of Spanish food than I have in the past. That night nothing was formally scheduled but we go out to four Tapas bars.

There was a bullfight on the television in the background but I would not watch it.

Then it was time to sign off for the night. Some very good food today!

Sunday – 27 September, 2015

Today is Day 11 of the formal tour, It starts in Seville while we are still in Barcelona. We are up relatively early and go out to a local breakfast place.

So, we head out to the central train station to catch our express to Seville. We were going to take the Metro to the main station but when I got to the Metro station and saw all the taxis outside, I decided it was best to just take a taxi. The ride was easy and we had time for drinks at the cafe there.

JV goes across to a shop and we come close to missing our train because of all the time she spent there. However, we do get onto the train and are off shortly. Interestingly, the train to Seville and the train to Malaga are joined together at the start of the journey.

We were in the first class cabin although it did not seem that special. There was no laptop power, USB or Internet access. However, what did happen is they brought us a full lunch that wasn’t too bad.

The train journey takes precisely 2 1/2 hours as advertised. As we get off, we notice how warm it is. After Melbourne’s cold winter it was welcome. We take a taxi to our Hotel, the Gran Melia Colon. We check in and the room is quite nice.

We meet the tour group at the Hotel bar at 6:30. The people are all “new” – not on any of our previous tours, except Frank Camorra of course. However, I knew one of the couples well – Alan and Kerrie Oster – from an earlier period of my life. It was good to see them.

The group has a Cava at the bar and then heads out to some Tapas bars / restaurants for dinner.

We see an interesting site of a “girl” on a hammock:

Here are some of the dishes that we had”

So it was the end of the night. A rather stunning start and a portent of the days to come. Sorry for fallling behind, again – maybe I will catch-up later.