The Road from Santiago

  In we go to Sherry City.  First let us head to the Alcazar.  The Alcazar https://www.turismojerez.com/en/detail-tab/alcazar-de-jerez was built by the Almohads in the 12th and 13th century on the site of an 11th century gaff.  It is a bit of an odd shape but manages a gate on each side leading off to important roads in its 3 kilometres of enclosure.  It got an update in the 17th century, when a Baroque style palace was built.   The top review words are gardens, mosque and pharmacy so here we go. Gardenss - Cliff, three weeks ago, wrote ‘ The Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera is an impressive 12th-century Almohad fortress. The Arab baths are perfectly preserved and among the most beautiful in all of Andalusia. The mosque, with its original mihrab, is an architectural gem. The gardens are a haven of peace with fountains and lush vegetation. The octagonal tower offers incredible panoramic views of the entire city. The olive oil mill and the Arab pharmacy are a...

  We are heading towards Jerez de la Frontera. I am not sure the 215,000 inhabitants will be there to welcome us or will be the stayed middle class souls who sip sherry in a moderate sort of way in conservatively furnished drawing rooms.  Having said tat the mayor, Maria Jose Garcia-Pelayo is from the PP so keep working that imagination.   Jerez had a battle in 1231.  Little is known about the conflict other than the Castilians won.   Jerez fell to Alfonso X in 1261. It grew in the way these places do, the connection to the trade with the Americas helped, as did sherry.   In 1892 the peasants revolted.  5-600 fieldworkers marched into Jerez to demand prisoner releases and economic relief. Disturbances resulted in three deaths. The Civil Guard detained 315 people. So far, so good.  What happened next was the execution for four people, fourteen life sentences and seven lesser terms. This was generally considered as harsh  - especially...

  We are heading towards Jerez. It is a little known fact that it was law in Britain until the 1980s for  every household in the land to maintain a bottle of sweet sherry, which was to be brought out before Christmas Dinner and a single glass shut away until the following year. Of sherry, more later. We will be passing the Canal del Guadalcacin.  It is one of the many drainage channels around here. At present, I know no other juicy facts about it. Back to sherry. Wine making appears to have come to the area, with the Phoenicians, around 1000BC. It continued, even under the Moors, as it was a useful trade good. It appears the Moors brought the process of distillation to the region and steps were taken towards the making of sherry. The Catholic Monarchs helped the link with England by abolishing export tax and then, in 1517, during Henry VIII’s Spanish dalliances, English merchants were given preferential status. Thus sherry, or sack, began to make progress in English heart...

  To be honest it is a quiet day and we are wandering along a treeline road, broken by the occasional finca.  We will wobble between 10 and 12m above sea level and there is not a lot to say so let’s have five random facts about Spain - without going to 10 facts about Spain you won’t believe web pages! In 1823 a French Army restored the Monarchy and Ferdinand VII was restored.  His first official  Prime Minister, Víctor Damián Sáez Sánchez Mayor, was also his confessor. Ferdinand’s repression, led by Saez was so harsh, foreign nations protested and Saez was sacked after 13 days.  Alright, he had been Secretary of State before so not quiet as short as all that but none the less. He was made Bishop of Tortosa soon after. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Dami%C3%A1n_S%C3%A1ez   Ignoring Franco, and why not, it would annoy him, the longest serving Prime Minister since 1823 was PSOE’s Felipe Gonzalez, whose election, in 1982, marked the arrival of the fi...