Jerez de la Frontera

On Friday I took a short notice one day trip to jerez de la Frontera. It's a small town about an 1.5 outside of Seville. I went with a friend from class. It was an amazing day because a) we spoke spanish the ENTIRE day (except for like 5 minutes when we were lost) and b) the weather and views were gorgeous.

Jerez is one of the many pueblos in Andalucia (the southern region) that is in the industry of wine. So our prinary purpose was to visit a bodega that specializes in port and sherry. We went to Sandeman which is a winery that dates back to 1790. We took the tour in spanish even though they asked us if we were sure like 15 times. The tour itself was really short but very informative about the origins of Sandeman (who was Scottish) and the actual process of making the port. There was a tasting at the end. Neither one of us are drinkers so we really had no idea what we were drinking.

After the bodega we hopped on another bus and went to an even smaller pueblo outside of Jerez called Arcos. There really wasn't anything there but an amazing view of the countryside. Of course the narrow streets, whitewashed buildings, and warm weather made it even better. It was just a really quiet town. People were staring at us because it's such an insignificant town that they immediately knew we were tourists. Plus we were running downhill to avoid getting left by the lastt bus of the day!

I really enjoyed myself. It was great to get out of the city especially after starting classes and stuff this week. I'd like to take more day trips while I'm here. Buses and trains are kinda cheap here so it's not difficult to take a quick trip to another town or city for a day.