Last weekend I did many things for the first time, we had a puente, long weekend and each day I did something new. Normally if I’m not traveling or trying to save money I end up doing nothing, so this past weekend was a really good one.
My first new experience: Visiting a bodega in Jerez. Jerez is the birthplace of sherry and over the last two years I have consumed liters of sherry, but until Saturday I have never visited a bodega here. Bodegas are where they produce and create the wine, which is a little different from the term bodega back home. Saturday morning at 11am Jamie and I toured the Lustau bodega. Lustau was founded in 1896 and today it is considered one of the worlds best wineries ranking 7th worldwide in 2012.
My second experience: Biking the Via Verde. Vias Verdes are greenway cycling/walking routes located throughout Spain. In 1993 the Vias Verde plan was introduced to turn more than 6,000km of abandoned railway lines into environmental friendly tourism within rural areas. So far it has been a success and the route my friend Miriam and I did on Sunday is considered the most beautiful, it was voted the best Greenway in Europe in 2009. It’s located in the mountains of Cadiz and is a 36.5km path connecting the towns of Puerto Serrano and Olvera. We only road to about the halfway point at 15km and even if we wanted to we couldn’t have gone further. About 1km from the halfway point in the middle of a kilometer long tunnel my front tire went flat. Luckily we weren’t far and only had to walk a short distance, once there I was able to get it repaired. There’s a bike rental place along with a playground and restaurant there. I was worried it wasn’t going to hold the whole way back (to walk 15km takes about 4 hours), but it did and it even got me to and from school today.
My third experience: Visiting Setenil. Setenil is a place I have wanted to go to for a long time now, we were suppose to go in December, but a couple of days before it fell through. Five months later, with no school on Monday I had a second chance! Jose, Jamie, James and I made the trip to the town under rocks. Setenil is a very small town (pop 3,000) located about an hour and a half from Jerez. Historically it played an important role as a line of defense for the Muslims region of Granada against the Christian north, its watch tower, dating back to the 12th century is one of many that dot the region. However, people don’t go to see the watch tower, they go to see the buildings tucked into the rocky cliff face.
Love the architecture shots!