Jerez de la Frontera

Before our daughter was born, 4 years ago, we used to go on lots of little trips, visiting new places and experiencing the Spanish vida!  Understandably it came to a halt but we are now feeling the need to get travelling again, just locally.  So last weekend we headed of to Jerez, famous for its sherry and sherry vinegar.  It's under 3 hours from our house, between us and Portugal so not a difficult drive.  On the way we stopped at Arcos de la Frontera which is a gorgeous hilltop town with 2 huge churches on the top.  The town gained its name by being the frontier of Spain's 13th century battle with the Moors. (Wikipedia)

Jerez was a lovely, slow paced, very genteel and civilised place.  Unfortunately, in typical Spanish style, none of the bodegas were open on a Sunday or during the summer (too hot) so we weren't able to do a tasting but we tried several sherries on our tapas bar crawl on the Saturday night and we believe dry sherry deserves some attention.  Unlike its sweet partner, the drink of housewives and old ladies by reputation, dry sherry is a perfect accompaniment to cured meats and pickled foods like boquerones and anchovies.  Give it a try!