Jerez de la Frontera

Hotel El Horcajo was a bit surprise - situated in the green valley among high mountains and fields reminded some kind of ranch. Rooms looked like horse corrals adapted from the old stable. You could feel very nice atmosphere of the old village. And chirping sparrows didn't stop even for a small moment. Luckily that was only the atmosphere - room was quite comfortable and adequate to 3-star rating of the hotel. Had classic bathroom, big bed and tv.

Hotel is located literally in the middle of nowhere, but it's what makes that atmosphere! And what seemed to be worse, we had to eat dinner in the hotel's restaurant. They had not so rich menu - only two positions to choose from, so decisions were quick. Happily food was fresh and very good. They even had their own wine! Really good!

In the morning we had a chance to try some andalusian specialties like cheese and cured meat. It was also very good. Only taste of coffee damaged rather positive image of our breakfast.

Next day we had to get to Jerez de la Frontera to visit some Bodegas and Flamenco Show. Although while driving to Jerez, we changed our plans and went to Cadiz. Sunday morning in Cadiz was a very interesting experience. You could see a lot of people selling different things on the streets and walking around the city. We visited very funny park (picture on the left) and passed Gran Teatro Falla (picture on the right).
Cadiz has some kind of Arabian influence you can feel in the air. I can't perfectly name it, but it reminds me what I've seen in the movies shot in the north Africa.
After spending few hours and walking few kilometers around Cadiz, we finally headed to Jerez.
It's not far away and roads are really good, so it took us about 40 minutes. This time my Garmin helped me to find Hotel Guadalete really fast. After arriving to destination, we quickly unpacked our luggage and headed to the nearest Bodega - Tio Pepe. On the way we started to feel some hunger so stopped by for small tapas. Finally we reached Tio Pepe front door about 16:00 and read that on Sundays they work only till 15:00! Damn it! All other bodegas had similar opening hours, so we gave up and started to admire the city itself. It's quite interesting city, but you can see it in maximum 2 hours or so - later you can only drink sherry or watch flamenco. Although not always...

Before leaving the hotel I asked lady at the desk where we can go to Flamenco show and if we should make any reservations? Response was simple - you can just go and it's 15 minutes away from the hotel. Great. We had no problems to find the recommended flamenco place - at the door it was a message that they open at 22:30 for the show. Ok. We get back to hotel for a glass of sherry and some rest. In the evening we headed to flamenco place, but it was closed even at 22:45. So we decided to get back to the hotel - streets were empty and Jerez was like dead city.
Summarizing I don't recommend going there for more than few hours and not planning ahead your visits to flamenco or bodegas.