THURSDAY 11.07.02 DAY - 6 PART I

DAY 6 PART I – SEVILLA to Jerez Dela Frontera

9AM – Parador Carmona.

“Ok, so what time to we have to be there for this Horse Show,” the skeptical Illy asked.

“From what the lady says, we need to be there by10:45 –11:00AM to get tickets and seats.” I said, “So we need to get a move on… it’s at least 1 ½ hours to get there. The fellow at the front desk says it’s not hard to find from the highway.”

[Little did we know… his idea of not hard to find was going to be a tad different from ours, once we arrived in Jerez].

After a quick trip thorough the excellent Parador Buffet Breakfast, it was time for “One last scenic shot” from the Paradores dining room. Chuckie spotted what appeared to be a staff meeting and stopped to congratulate the Managing Director on his marvelous staff, the Chef for the delights of his kitchen [couldn’t steal him either] and the whole executive committee for running one of the finest hotels we have stayed in for some time. A gracious “Muchas Gracias” from all, sent Chuckie on his way to finish loading the Car, check out and head down the hill to the AUTOVIA towards Cadiz [the route to Jerez].

With no Guardia Civil exercises on the highway today, we were able to make good time. Finding Jerez [at least the exit] was easy; the rest was a replay of the past 5 days of similar site searches. First, the directions from the lady at the reservations for “Escuela de Arte de Equestrian”, were for coming in from the other direction, so that didn’t work. Of course we got to sightseeing and we may have missed a street or two... here and there... So…Chuckie has taken to stopping to ask for directions at gas stations, news kiosks or just about anywhere a local was around to ask. [He really does admit he has NO IDEA where he is… sometimes] Sooooo…. The next bum steer was from the fellow at the Gasoleria on the other side of town. This took them back to the AUTOVIA headed to Cadiz [Did we tell you that Chuck has no accent? He also apparently does not have the proper vocabulary with which to ask directions!!!]

By now it is 11:00AM and we will be late for the horses… but we press on. Two more stops and finally a Guarda Urbana [local cop] sends us off in the right direction. We were a little skeptical when we pulled into a grade school parking lot, but noticed the many tour buses and figured this may just work.

We parked, headed off in the direction indicated by the bus drivers and hauled butt to get to the Escuela on time. It was a bit of a hike from the parking lot [in fact 3 blocks then around the corner, for another 2 blocks. We pull up to the gate breathlessly, just in time to hear the guard tell some other Tardy Turista that they had sold out…10 minutes ago. [Yeppp….the ever punctual {NOTTT} Wacky American Tourist was late again] And this time, no amount of silver tongued devilry from Chuckie was going to get us in.

Even though this was an unplanned event on our itinerary, it was very disappointing. This is the Royal Andalusian Equestrian Exhibition, performed only on the first Thursday of the month. It was highly recommended by several people and it was a big let down for the picture crazed Chuckie not to get in. [Molly, we really wanted to get some great pictures for you since this is your thing…Sorry.]

A much slower walk back to the car and we decided we had plenty of time to make the 1:30 Sherry tour at the Bodega Gonzalez Byass. Well… at least we thought so.

The instructions to the Bodega, were not any better from their reservations lady than for the horse school. We got to see all of Jerez dela Frontera, over… and over…. and over again. At one point, we were sent on a wild goose chase by a nice old gentleman, who surely meant well when he advised that we had go around Jerez via the AUTOVIA since the way to the Bodega through the center of town was under construction. We even found the Company’s distribution plant right off an exit from the AUTOVIA, which caused quite a turmoil at the gate, when Chuckie rolled right through [he swears he did not see the guy in the gate shack] made the obligatory “Pirula” in the parking lot and headed back to the gate for directions. The visibly upset guard was out of his shack, waving his hands wildly in the air, and began to admonish Chuckie quite soundly.
We believe the question was,
“Usted hablar Castillano perfecto si? Porque no paro al Entrada?”
[You speak perfect Castilian Spanish, yes? So why didn’t you stop at the entrance as it says on the sign?]
Chuckie apologized in his excellent Spanish [Yeah…Right!] And requested the proper directions to the Bodega. The irate fellow rattled off what could only be described as machine gun rhetoric…with a lot hissing [more like Thhhhhing] here and there… gesturing up… down… and up again… and sent us off with yet a third set of directions that also failed to yield the prize.

Finally, after the 4th circumnavigation of Jerez, passing all the other Bodega's [Domecq, Sandeman etc.} along the way. [It really is a quaint little town…] We found another pair of Policia, that got us going in the right direction and we finally spotted the Tio Pepe Sign down the road, around the corner and up the hill. We located a parking garage nearby and hustled up to the ticket office with 10 minutes to spare. Yep… it took almost 1 ½ hours visiting every part of Jerez to find this bloody place… this Tour better be all it’s cracked up to be!!!

After a brief wait, we boarded a little blue tour train and the handsome young guide in his perfect English [originally from the Netherlands who landed here while traveling Europe playing his guitar… I swear… you can’t make this stuff up] began to introduce us to the Wonderful world of Sherry making, Gonzalez Byass style. [Pronounced – GONTHALETH BEEATH--- they THHhhhhhh everything in this part of the country.] Christina, he is a knockout and said he would teach you to drink sherry and play the Guitar… you may be able to catch up with him in Germany next year.

We visited bodega after bodega [special sheds that house the massive barrels of Charred American Oak, previously used to age Bourbon whiskey in which all good Sherry matures] including the outdoor Concha where certain Sherries are aged and in which the family has entertained several generations of Kings and Queens for dinner and celebrations. We saw a movie about the family history and discovered who the mysterious Tio Pepe actually was. Trips to the Brandy Bodegas were particularly educational. Also of particular interest was the discovery of the some particular “resident mice” which jealously guard a particular Sherry bodega. They have an affinity for the Oleroso Sherry and were trained by workers years ago to climb a little ladder and drink from a wine glass. The workers even put a little platico of Tapas out for the mice so they don’t get too drunk. Swear to God…. I even have pictures!!!

There is also a special pavilion that houses a special Brandy that is 33 years old and named the Christ barrel. Through the ages, 12 other kegs have been added for the 12 disciples. However, the barrel for the disciple Judas was replaced by St Mateo due to superstition that wine placed in a cask named Judas would turn to vinegar. They do make vinegar here also, but prefer not to get it done that way.

The pavilion is so large that the family has often entertained several heads of state here and is available for rental. In the last month, they have had over 20 weddings here, quite a popular place.

The tour ended with some sherry sampling… couldn’t get them to part with any of their fine LePanto brandy. And of course… the exit was through the ever-present gift shop. After pictures with the Cute Muchacha Tio Pepe in here trademark Red Bolero and Cabballero’s hat and… €50.00 later, we escaped the gift shop and wound up exiting through the Employees entrance by accident, somewhere at the rear of the complex. It was another trek of discovery to find our way back to the front and the car park, but Chuckie decided that if we follow the walls and domes of the Bodega with some great photo-ops along the way we made it back in one piece, [Sheeessshhhh we seem to do a lot of extra walking for nothing…]

Once back at the car, and after a quick photo of Founder Jose Manuel Gonzalez’s statue in the park adjacent to the Winery we were off to find the way to Arcos de la Frontera and eventually Granada.

We had planned on combining the trip to and circumnavigation of Granada [yeah…. We got lost there too] with this note but had to run to an internet kiosk in Barcelona to check mail and decided to send this on in the spirit of brevity… [Yeah…Right…. the concept of Chuckie and brevity just DOES NOT quite work in any instance]

More from Granada and the road to Barcelona later.

Ciao 4 Now
Chuck and the exhausted but very hungry [?!?] Cuban Lady.