Day trip to Jerez

Last Wednesday I had the day off for Día del Trabajador (Labor Day), so I met up with my friend Lauren (Fulbrighter in Cádiz) in Jerez de la Frontera, a little city in the province of Cádiz between Sevilla and Cádiz city.

We saw the alcázar, a Moorish fortress/palace dating from the 11th century. There's an Alcázar in Sevilla, and the one in Jerez looks like a little play-size one in comparison. :)  We had a nice lunch at a random little restaurant on a plaza: gazpacho (cold tomato-based soup) and cazón (dogfish, a type of shark), cooked with a tomato and pepper sauce. We also took a tour of the Tío Pepe bodega (winery), the best-selling brand of sherry wine in the world. Jerez is famous for its vino de Jerez (sherry wine) - a type of white wine with versions ranging from dry and light to dark and sweet. The microclimate around Jerez is such that this small region of Cádiz is the only place in the world where sherry wine can be produced! We saw the grounds and also got to taste some wine: one really dry and one really sweet.

At the alcázar in Jerez de la Frontera

Tío Pepe bodega - vino de Jerez (sherry wine) aging in American oak barrels

Wine tasting

In any case, it was gorgeous weather and a very carefree day and trip. I have a feeling I'm going to miss days like this next year! I'm trying not to count down, but I have less than two months until I go home, and I'm starting to get to the point where I don't want to leave Spain!