Viva Espana! – Andalusia, Southern Spain – October 2016    

Friday, October 14th, 2016 – Tarifa – Bolonia – Cádiz – Jerez de la Frontera   

Although I did not hear it myself, I was reliably informed that it had rained hard all night. Lucie claimed the downpour was of such magnitude that, even when she finally did go to sleep, she dreamed of floods !

It was not raining in the morning, when I did wake up, but it started again while we were having breakfast. Not only that but it was a downpour of sufficient intensity to drive us back into our room to wait it out, as opposed to hitting the road. I really fancied doing a bit of riding WITHOUT waterproof clothing on !  

We watched it disconsolately out of the window for a couple of hours until finally, around half past eleven, a streak of blue sky appeared outside and out came a bright sun. Before we could even get our jackets on, the sky was totally blue and it was already warming up. Luckily, this was to last all day.  

Our first stop of the day was at the Roman monuments in Bolonia, which was quite close by and where there is the excavated Roman city of Baelo Claudia. In a fairly small area there are remains of all the city facilities including a theatre, the temple of Isis and a fish factory.

It was very nicely described and documented and moreover, as EU citizens, we had free admission !!

From Bolonia, we drove to Cádiz, which was the main point of the day’s program.     

The journey took about an hour. We drove past the fields of wind farms, cows and cowsheds, pines and large groves of olive trees. At first, the road was flanked by mountains, which softened slowly into rolling hills, before becoming a wide plain leading down to the sea.

The city itself is surrounded by the sea from all sides and access from the mainland is via a narrow neck of land with both the highway and railway lines running along it. It was a tiny bit reminiscent of places in Florida.   

The ancient city of Cadiz has three fortresses. Two are on the land and one is stuck out into the sea to guard the port. The one guarding the port proved less than effective when, in 1587, the British Admiral, Sir Francis Drake sailed into Cádiz harbour with a fleet of “Fire Ships” and almost totally destroyed the nascent Spanish Armada. Sir Francis called that “Singeing the King of Spain’s beard !” Even today, the old city looked just like it does in paintings of that event.   

Cádiz is considered to be one of the very oldest cities in Europe. There are some excavations, but we missed seeing them because we were very behind schedule. The old centre is so compact that almost every side street has a view of the ocean and has a well kept promenade that fringes the sea. We walked around the promenade, had a drink in the sun, then walked a bit more before having a delicious lunch. 

Old Cádiz impressed us immensely. It is beautiful and people actually live there. There are no hotels on the beach or waterfront, just normal apartment buildings. It has a very nice feel about it.

We left Cadiz along the narrow neck of land, passing large piles of salt drying in the sun.

Then we drove inland to Jerez de la Frontera, which is, quite literally, the “cradle“ of sherry making. “Jerez” is the Spanish word for sherry and there are also several types of sherry either produced there or at least have their manufacturer’s headquarters in the town.

Like everywhere we went, Jerez is a very picturesque town. In addition to the sherry factories (which give the town’s air quite a fruity quality), there is a well preserved castle, a lovely cathedral and a picturesque central square.

We sat in the beautiful square. The Spanish understand how to build a good square.

Flamenco dancers were performing for the tourists and it was all very relaxed.

Although I do not usually drink when I am driving, I did feel compelled to sample a glass (or two) of the excellent sherry that was on offer in all the bars and cafés. It certainly was good. Lucie, who does not drink alcohol, contented her self with an alcohol free beer.

We drove home with a glorious sunset in the rear view mirrors and got back to our hotel just before dark. We took a different road for much of the way back and our route took us through the ancient town of Medina Sidonia. It was the Duke of Medina Sidonia who commanded the reconstructed Spanish Armada, to humiliating defeat and destruction, in 1588, a year after Drake’s exploits in Cadiz.     

There was a restaurant with a lot of Trip Advisor recommendations only three kilometres away down the road. We managed to locate it easily despite the Harley’s weird navigation. Of course a large, brightly illuminated, sign beside the road might have helped as well !

It almost goes without saying now that our seafood dinner was inventive and superbly cooked.   

We went to bed full and happy.