...famous for Sherry, Flamenco and dancing horses.

The day started with us catching the 8am bus. Within minutes we passed fields of polytunnels where cut flowers, fruit and vegetables are grown. As we started to approach Jerez these were replaced by vineyards - apparently the white chalky soil is ideal for the cultivation of the Palamino grape which produces the sherry. The journey took approximately an hour - certainly excellent value for money at €1.90 each.

Jerez de la Frontera dates back to Moorish times and has many beautiful buildings, mosaic paving and squares lined with palm trees.



The Sherry bodegas are located close to the centre of the town and as we walked the streets, every corner seemed to have one - familiar names like Harvey's, Sanderman and Tio Pepe to name a few.



They all tempted us in but we showed restraint because we were keen to get tickets for the mid-day show "How the Andalusian Horses Dance" held at The Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Arts.

The estate itself was impressive with beautiful buildings, outdoor paddocks, manicured gardens and very tall trees providing valuable shade. The show itself was held inside one of these building, an arena of immaculately raked sand with plenty of seating on three sides.

We weren't allowed to take photos - a good thing because it meant no distractions. The riders were immaculately dressed as were the Andalucian horses, which were magnificent. Strongly built but compact and elegant with long thick manes and tails. Performances included individuals and their horses to teams of four and eight with complicated changes of step, direction and pace as well as carriages expertly driven all choreographed to some lovely classical Spanish music. Very impressive indeed.



We thoroughly enjoyed it and considering we're not horsey people that's saying something!

The shows aren't run everyday so check your dates beforehand to avoid disappointment. Vicky, this should be on your bucket-list! :-)

In the absence of any photos, take a look at this video

Our next venue was a lunchtime show of Flamenco at 'La Taberna Flamenca', located next to the Church of Santiago.

The Taverna was very authentic with walls dressed with pictures of bull fights, guitarists, flamenco dancers and old farm tools. Tucked into one corner of the room was a small stage where two guitarists, two singers and three traditionally dressed dancers sat in a row of chairs. The rest of the room was filled with us 'tourists' sat around tables on chairs.



The performance started with one male singer and one guitarist, lots of clapping and loud foot stomping. Having 'felt' the rhythm, one of the dancers stood up and performed several energetic and passionate body movements with some very fast footwork before returning to his seat. This followed with the next singer and guitarist and another dancer who swirled around the floor showing a bit of leg and nifty footwork whilst clicking fingers to the beat of the music before returning to her seat and so it continued for an hour as each dancer took it in turn on stage.

We tried to capture some of the performance on video but failed because of the subdued lighting so we found a YouTube video instead - .

We would’ve liked to have said that we thoroughly enjoyed the performance but we walked away rather disappointed. The dancers were excellent and showed real energy and passion but sadly we felt that the whole performance was lacking something - it didn't flow and engage with the audience somehow. The singing was overpowered by the clapping and foot stomping and on more than one occasion we felt the group were deciding what to do next. Perhaps we were unlucky with our choice of venue/ Flamenco or maybe this is something that unfortunately we just don't appreciate.

The day was full on and we walked what seemed like miles so needless to say we returned back to Flirtie rather tired. Without doubt Jerez has lots to offer the tourist with loads of things to see and do.