Jerez: what to see, plus the best music, hotels, restaurants and tapas bars
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Version 0 of 1. Spain’s gastronomic maridaje – the marriage of food and wine – is a definite threesome in Jerez de la Frontera, where all life is fuelled by sherry and tapas, but marches to a flamenco beat. The annual flamenco festival is its peak – not only for larger ticketed events, but also for free performances in the peñas (social clubs), tabancos (old-style bars), and late at night in the plazas. In fact, all the city’s many festivals and ferias are accompanied by a flurry of flamenco activity – it’s just that, rather frustratingly, it’s not easy to sweep in and locate it. Where to hear flamenco Several of the tabancos actually have regular, scheduled events (and flyers for one-offs elsewhere). Best-known, and popular with locals and tourists, is Tabanco el Pasaje (C/Santa María 8) where guitarist and singer face the cramped bustle from Thursdays to Sundays. Another good option is Tabanco el Guitarrón de San Pedro (C/Bizcocheros 16) with performances on Saturday afternoons, participation flamenco on Sunday nights and, amazingly given the tight space, a cadre (guitars, singing and dancing) on Thursday nights. As Mireia Dot Rodriguez, the tabanco’s co-owner, points out: “Flamenco is something you feel on your skin, in your senses, not watch from a distance.” So that’s all right. The peñas are home base for many of today’s flamenco greats, and it’s worth passing one of the bigger ones over the weekend to see if it’s open. Try Centro Cultural Don Antonio Chacón (C/Salas 2) or Peña Flamenca Los Cernícalos (C/de Sancho Vizcaíno 25) in the Gypsy barrio of San Miguel. What to do Related: Cádiz and the Costa de la Luz: where to stay, eat, drink and more The many cobbled alleys, plazas, baroque churches and bars make exploring old Jerez a joy, and well-positioned street maps displaying recommended routes keep it easy. However, Plaza del Arenal (home to the tourist information office) is a useful reference point. For general ambling, head north-west from here to the old barrio of Santiago and south-west to San Miguel. Just to the south, there’s the Alcazar de Jerez, once a frontier of the Islamic kingdom, its thick city walls built to keep the Christians out. They didn’t and, in 1264, the overlay of monasteries, palaces and churches began. This fortress, home to caliphs then Christian governors, its mosque converted into a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, says it all. Or stroll 20 minutes north to the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art (realescuela.org, adults €21, children €13) in which dancing horses put on an impressive show every Tuesday and Thursday (plus Fridays in August and September). You don’t have to be horsey to appreciate the history, skill, architecture and hats, although it helps. Or watch men controlling powerful machines down at the Circuito de Jerez (circuitodejerez.com). The city is World Capital of Motorcycling 2015. Where to eat and drink A sherry cooking class with the city’s top chef, Javier Muñoz of La Carboná (C/San Francisco de Paula 2, lacarbona.com), combines three highlights in one. Obviously, you start at a bodega (the gem that is Díez Mérito, C/Diego Fernández Herrera 4), then nose around the impressive fish stalls of Mercado de Abastos, before seeing alchemy at work back at the restaurant and savouring the results – accompanied by sherry, of course. It costs €65 a head, with a minimum of four people, on Wednesdays; available in English (+34 956 328 780, surways.com). Want to get straight in to the sherry? Avoid the crowds by visiting Lustau (C/Arcos 53, +34 956 341 597, lustau.es), which not only produces some of the world’s best, including fino La Ina and oloroso Emperatriz Eugenia, but represents a few independent back-room winemakers in its glorious Almacenista range. Related: Zahara de los Atunes: sun, sea and seafood in southern Spain Tabancos, once basic stores selling wine from the barrel, and frequented by old men, have been resurrected by nostalgic enthusiasts, their old paraphernalia, tiles, wooden bars and barrels, green-and-mustard paint intact. All serve phenomenally good wine – specifically sherry – for €1; several, including Tabanco el Guitarrón (as before) stock a wide variety, including real rarities. Some offer more sophisticated tapas, but most, like Tabanco San Pablo (C/San Pablo 12, tabancosanpablo.es), champion the old favourites: tortilla, meatballs, stews, clams and serranitos (hot pork and serrano ham rolls). You’ll find the densest concentration in a compact area east from Calle Larga to Barrio San Miguel, none more than a short stroll apart. Perfect dining, paseo style. Ask for a Ruta de los Tabancos map in participating bars. Jerez’s unofficial “golden mile of gastronomy” doglegs through three plazas (Plateros, glorious Asunción, and shady Yerba) before continuing eastwards along Calle Consistorio. Table with umbrella? Glass of wine? View of old church? Tick, tick, tick. Food is all around. Cruz Blanca (restaurantelacruzblanca.com) opposite the Town Hall, offering upmarket traditional fare (black rice with baby squid and prawns, Iberian pork, plenty of asparagus), and Albores, next door, where the Madrileño chef does clever things to local produce using oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sauces, are worth the lengthy queues. One night only? Unless it’s a Tuesday, when it’s shut, go for the sherry pairing menu at the Andaluz-chic, bodega-style La Carboná (as before). Javier Muñoz’s combinations – cooked in sherry, paired with sherry – are an inspiring revelation: a cheese ice-cream with fino, beef with oloroso, artichokes with amontillado ... who knew? Where to stay Old, interesting and lovely without being twee applies equally to Jerez’s historic heart and the well-loved La Fonda Barranco (+34 956 332 141, lafondabarranco.com) tucked away inside it, close to the cathedral: restored, boutique, all fresh white and wooden beams, with Moorish lanterns, arches and central patio and breakfasts served on the roof terrace. An equally lovely former home, the aptly named Casa Grande (+34 956 34 50 70, hotelcasagrande.eu), offers calm, airy elegance; rooms with beautiful tiled floors above a large central patio, a huge roof terrace, and great hospitality in a central location. Both places have rooms from €60 in low season, though prices soar during festivals. If you’ve ever fancied yourself as the owner of vineyards with a gracious country house, you can live the dream at Casa Viña de Alcántara (low-season rates from €160, + 34 956 39 30 10, vinadealcantara.com). This sweet and small hotel, the property of one of the Gonzalez-Byass sherry dynasty, is set in tree-filled grounds (with a swimming pool) designed for wafting through or sketching in. Service is provided by attentive staff, and dinner is provided on request, although the bright lights of Jerez are just a 15-minute drive away. The 19th-century Palacio Garvey (rooms from €60, +34 956 32 67 00, hotelpalaciogarvey.com) is the former home of the Garvey winemakers, in Jerez, overlooking what is arguably its loveliest square: Plaza de Rafael Rivero. While some of the furnishings are tired, the art’s a bit odd, and leatherette and astroturf are never good, the building is grand and the large rooms good value. The Semana Santa parades pass under the floor-to-ceiling windows of rooms one and two. • The Jerez Flamenco Festival runs until 7 March (festivaldejerez.es) |