Europe 2021 – part II: Andalucia, Spain

From Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, Savvy Sailing Girl flew over to Jerez and rejoined Sam and the boat in Puerto Sherry. Unfortunately, her duffel bag took an extra day to arrive, but did eventually show up. I have always wanted to visit Jerez and Andalusia as well as the Algarve region of Portugal along the south coast, so this was very exciting. Andalucia is the southern region of Spain and home to the famous fortified Sherry (or Jerez) wines. Sailing along the beautiful coastline from Puerto Sherry near Cadiz all the way to the Guadiana river truly was a treat!

Sam and I took the train into Jerez de la Frontera (the main city of sherry wines in Andalucía) and a walk towards the center of town where we hoped to go visit the Tio Pepe Bodega, one of the larger sherry producers in the area. Along the way, we happened upon the Bodega Diez Méritz and our timing was excellent as there were two couples who had booked a tour and we were able to join in. The tour was thorough and wonderful as was the tasting that followed. Although I did not finish off all that was poured, I still found myself “tacking” out of the winery at the end (with 2 bottles purchased for later, I might add! 😊).

Onward to the center of town and a lovely tapas (small/appetizer plates) lunch at a cafe recommended by our very nice winery tour guide. It was delicious. Jamon Ibérica is an ongoing theme to meals here in Spain along with the marvelous Spanish cheeses and other tasty bites. We were still hoping to visit the Tio Pepe Bodega after lunch but found that it was not open and no one answered the phone when we tried calling. Too bad. Another day perhaps. Jerez will most definitely require a follow-on visit. We meandered around a bit longer and then decided to have a glass of sherry at a little sidewalk café on the way back. The “Jerez de la casa” (house sherry) was 1.10€, which led to low expectations, but it was actually marvelous! We then worked our way back to the train station feeling very well fortified indeed (as was the wine!)

Unfortunately, it was time to move on, though not very far… just across the way and under the beautiful bridge to Cadiz to a more protected anchorage with less swell. The following day we dinghied ashore and had a nice walk into the old town of Cadiz where we toured the beautiful cathedral. We followed that up with a picnic lunch in the central market square – fresh figs, jamon ibérica, sheep’s cheese, fresh bread, local grapes and a glass of sherry. It could not have been better!

A day for provisioning and a day of rest, then back on the train to Jerez de la Frontera, this time solo. Crew mate Peter is heading off for just short of 2 weeks then will return, and for that time Sam and I are on our own. We’ll stay another few days here and then start working our way west to the Algarve… Faro and Portimão.

A day in Jerez, take two! An easy train ride from Cadiz, I was looking at the map and deciding on the walking route into town when I discovered Bodega Lustau was close by. This was the brand we had with lunch at the market in Cadiz and it was good enough to see whether a tour was available for that day. Indeed, it was, but in English only at 10am. Sitting on the train and discovering this at 9:20am, SSG quickly calculated how much longer the ride was and how long the walk to the bodega would be. It was just doable with a 5-minute margin of safety. Once the train halted, it was a sprint out and she was on her way. 10am on a Thursday was obviously not in high demand for wine tasting and I was the only one there. So I had a private tour and tasting, both of which were quite nice! Then on to a local “queseria” (cheese shop), where a wonderful specimen was purchased for consumption later on.

Next stop was to the central market (SSG loves the local fresh markets!) where she purchased some jamon Ibérica carved straight from the leg, which is often but not always available. A visit to one of the local tabancos (this is a Spanish name for a local tapas bar where you can order sherries poured straight from the cask).

A wonderful stop for lunch before continuing on for a walk to the cathedral of Jerez. Not quite the splendor or size of the cathedral in Cadiz, however this one was lovely in its own way.

There was still time to walk around and explore some before the 4pm tour/tasting at Bodega Tradicíon. They use more traditional methods of production and are smaller than most of their competition. Their niche market is that they do primarily aged sherries. There are two designations, VOS and VORS (in English, Very Old Sherry – no not me!!! And Very Old Rare Sherry – maybe me!, respectively). The VOS sherries are at least 20 years old and VORS are 30 years or older. So this tasting would be of all older varieties. The tour and tasting were very nice, as was the art collection on site… quite impressive!

It was about a 30-minute walk back to the train station after the tour and a bit of a mix-up in terms of actually getting on the train (missed the first one and barely got on the second), but in the end arrived safely back to Cadiz and the boat.

Sam wanted to move on the next day, a bit earlier than I had thought, but we had a nice motor-boat (no wind) ride over to Sanlúcar to the west. Sanlúcar is the third city, along with Jerez and Cadiz, forming the sherry triangle. Only wines produced within this area and having been aged a minimum of 2 years, can be labeled sherry. This is apparently going to change shortly, as the commission controlling this has decided to expand the region somewhat, leaving room for new sherry producers making some very happy and others less so.

We arrived, about 2 miles upriver on the Guadalquivir (direction Seville), past Sanlúcar. It was Friday evening and a party boat with quite a good live band cruised by at a slow pace providing us (as well as its paying passengers) good entertainment. All was well until SSG went below to brush her teeth. In a (too vigorous) flossing exercise, she managed to dislodge an old crown. ACK!!!! Where to find a dental clinic near a small remote town on a weekend?!!! I was beside myself as I know these things need to be treated right away and Sam wanted to sail out on either Sunday or Monday. Yikes!…

After doing some research online Friday night, I discovered one dental clinic in Sanlúcar with opening hours on Saturday. First thing in the morning we dinghied to town and I went to see whether they were: 1. Actually where it said on the map, 2. Open when they said they’d be (not always the case here in Spain), 3. Could take me without an appointment, 4. Could actually re-cement the crown so that it would hold and I could continue on with my sailing/traveling plans without interruption. Thankfully, the Universe was very kind and took very good care of me. All went smoothly and within an hour I was reglued (both physically and emotionally). I sat quietly on a nearby bench and offered deep gratitude for this good fortune. And then, I thought, “why not have a look around?”. The town is absolutely lovely, small but quaint and with its fair share of sherry bodegas and noteworthy sights. SSG toured the Castell de Santiago (Castle of Saint James) from the 1400’s, visited the central market which was in full swing on a Saturday, and then went to Bodega Hidalgo Gitano where she discovered that you can buy sherry directly out of the cask for less than half the price of bottles. She took advantage of this opportunity so that the boat and crew would have sufficient stores until we reached Madeira where we would enjoy another touring/tasting opportunity!

Onward on Sunday to our next destination… the river Guadiana which divides Spain and Portugal. We will spend a few days here exploring both the Spanish, as well a Portuguese, towns. Yay!

We anchored by Ayamonte on the Spanish side of the river for the night and dinghied over to Villa Royal, the town on the Portuguese side. We had a walk around and then enjoyed lunch in an outdoor café. Nice, but a bit on the touristy side. That evening, I saw a trail of huge birds winging across the sky and crossing the river… turns out they are storks! Wow!!! Hope to see more soon. The next day we were heading up river, but needed to time our departure for low tide to make sure we had sufficient clearance under the bridge. I wasn’t convinced by the way it looked from below, but sure enough, we passed under without hitting or getting caught on anything. Whew!!! It was about 20 miles and 3 small villages up to our destination. We anchored mid-river the first night, but then debris and tidal swings convinced us that we’d be better off on the dock, so we tied up on the Spanish side. The towns on either side of the river,

Sanlucar de Guadiana on the Spanish side and Alcoutim on the Portuguese side, were quite lovely. Connecting the two was a zip-line tourist attraction. You “zipped” from Spain on CET (Central European Time) to Portugal on WET (Western European Time) and over the river. The line actually went directly over the boat when we were anchored the first night… we were hoping that no uninvited visitors would “drop in” unexpectedly, lol!!! There were castles on either side of the river, but unfortunately, due to covid, not much was open/happening. The towns were much smaller than they looked on the map, but we were able to get some basic provisions.

After a few days, it was time to make our way back down river and head over to the Algarve (southern coastal) region of Portugal. We were headed for Faro, where our two new crew members would be joining. Stay tuned for Europe 2021 part III: Southern Portugal!