Jerez de la Frontera

This past weekend Annie and I had tentatively planned to go to Madrid. With our intensive sessions drawing to a close and other activities popping up, we never got around to booking anything. So, on Friday night we made the last minute decision to spend the weekend in Jerez de la Frontera, south of Sevilla about an hour by train and closer to the coast. As it turns out, this was one of the best last-minute decisions I ever made. As soon as I exited the train station on Saturday morning, I just had this feeling that the atmosphere was catered exactly to my tastes.

Before we began exploring, Annie and I stopping in at a small cafetería to, you guessed it, drink café and map out our day. Before we had even unfolded our map all the way, the manager stopped by our table and asked what we were looking for. We said that we didn’t really know and asked for suggestions. For the next half hour or so he chatted with us, pointing out things to do and see, checking opening hours of local attractions, and asking us about ourselves while his sons wove a soccer ball through the maze of tables. His wife recommended restaurants to us for dinner, and one of the young sons corrected our spelling when we didn’t quite get the names of those restaurants right. We had not expected such a warm welcome, and it was the perfect start to our day.

I love Sevilla more every day that I explore it, but there was something about Jerez that immediately captured me. It is more laid back, quieter, but still gorgeous. This past Saturday people were strolling through the streets of the old town, popping in and out of shops and gathering with friends for tapas in the main plaza. Little children and their parents surrounded the plaza’s  petunia-encircled fountain to enjoy the sunshine and blue sky. In a non-descript, teenage-girl phrase, Jerez was so me. Annie and I spent the whole day wandering around the city taking photographs and visiting a bodega, a requisite in a town that is famous for its sherry production.

This weekend was my first time riding on a European train and my first stay in a hostel. The train to Jerez was only a bit more expensive than taking the bus but was totally worth it considering that we live kitty-corner from the main train station in Sevilla. We literally walk a few minutes from our door to the platform. The train ride was smooth and took less than an hour. Our hostel was just a few blocks from the train and bus stations, and we were able to stay in a clean double room with our own bathroom for 15€ each. I was certainly glad that I had brought my ear plus, though. Nothing about a hostel in a city is quiet.

This weekend was also my first time exasperating a Spanish grocery clerk. Annie and I ducked into a grocery store Saturday evening to buy cheap breakfast for Sunday morning. Think bananas, strawberries, cereal bars (for me), and dinosaur crackers (for Annie, and she highly recommends them). I was unaware that the protocol for buying fruit in that store was that it should be weighed on a scale and then its special code should be selected to calculate the price, which is then printed out onto a sticker. The clerk told me how to do it, and I accidentally pressed code “28” instead of “38”, so my sticker came out as “manzana” (apple) instead of “banana”...oops! When I tried again with the correct code, something else wasn’t working, so I had to ask for more help. The poor woman stormed over to the scale with the banana, worked her magic, and finished ringing up my food. Ignorant American stereotype fulfilled.

Other than that minor mishap, our weekend in Jerez was one of the most relaxing and peaceful two days I have ever spent. We hope to have time for at least one more day trip there before the end of the semester.