Jerez and Arcos

Yesterday I went on my first trip outside of Sevilla to Jerez de la Frontera and Arcos de la Frontera. Jerez is the location of the Bodega Gonzalez Byass where the wine under the marked name Tio Pepe is made. The region is known for producing the best sherry in the world. We got a tour of the grounds with history included and then sat down for a wine tasting. We tasted two different sherries. The first was sweet and called Croft, very good! Then the second was very dry, called Palomino Fino and I could barely take one sip down! It was definitely something you would have to get accostomed to.

We also went to la Yeguada de la Cartuja, a reserve for the Spanish purebred horses located on the outskirts of Jerez. There is a lot of pride, history, and tradition that accompanies the purebred horses. We watched a show/presentation of many different traditional forms of working with the horses. Some included carriage racing and dressage (I have pics of more on Facebook). We were able to walk around and look at and pet the horses in their stalls. Above each stall there was a plaque with the horses information on it. It would have its name, date of birth, then its parents names underneath it. The horses were usually named after one of their parents, similar to Spanish last names (children's last names include the last name of his/her father then the last name of his/her mother and never changes when a woman marries). For example, my name would be Elizabeth Lauren Hupp Stevens for my whole life.

After the horse reserve, we took the bus to Arcos de la Frontera, a typical pueblo blanco (white hill town) in Andalucia. It is a small town but was absolutely beautiful with all the white buildings and located on the top of a cliff. The views were great, but sadly by camera battery died once we got to the best lookout point and I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of it! However, stay tuned for tagged pictures of me that other people took :) We had a lot of free time in this town so we had lunch in a park and walked around for an hour looking for icrecream (no where to be found!) Since we were there over siesta, nothing was open so we really had nothing much to do but walk and explore. Sometimes that is the best way to see a city though. We ran into great little parks and found an old church and castle.

It was a great trip and the views from Arcos were just amazing! Next weekend I am going to the Carnavales in Cadiz (on the coast). It is a two week long carnaval and my program is taking a group there for the last night. Should be a blast! It is a requirement to dress up crazy in costumes or anything weird you have. I will have to spend some time this week thinking of a costume to wear :)

Hope all is well at home,
thinking of you all,

Saludos,
Betsy