 Jerez de la Frontera is a place I visited in a couple of hours on the way back from my visit to Cádiz. Both visits are part of the trip I took to Seville with my ex-travel partner in October 2019. There was no particular reason to go to Jerez, my curiosity was due to the fact that as a kid I followed F1 races and one of the grand prix took place on the Jerez circuit. As has happened other times, the sound of the word itself was enough to capture my attention and the sound that this city made when it was pronounced was simply perfect for me. Obviously visiting Jerez de la Frontera was a simple operation as having planned the visit to Cádiz starting from Seville, stopping in Jerez on the way back was not complicated at all. Even if there were no places of interest that I knew, I studied something before leaving; except for the cathedral, another church and one of the main squares, everything else in Jerez, if there was still anything else, had to be discovered during the visit. We arrived in Jerez at around 04:28 PM and immediately outside the station I was struck by the beautiful design of the station itself. It was a very typical Spanish building consisting of three towers with the central one slightly higher than the other two. On the ground floor there were a series of arches preceding a patio, both of which extended across the width of the structure. It was mainly built in red brick but there were also parts finished in white concrete. The construction style was similar to that of many Plaza de Toros, as well as similar to parts of the Plaza de España in Seville. As I have written for other stations, in my opinion the one in Jerez was also originally a palace then converted into a station. These buildings have more or less the same plan where a network of tracks was added either frontally as in the case of very large stations, or transversely as in Jerez. There is a common element in these stations which is the iron roof in the shape of an arch; to me it is evident that it is a foreign element built at a later date. So if we stop to analyse the simple structure of the Jerez station or the Bonn station which is the last of the kind I have described, we understand that we are faced with an important building and not a building constructed with the purpose of being a station. On the one hand, the beauty of the station had put me in a good mood because I thought I would see other similar buildings, but after walking along the road to get to Plaza las Angustias, I never saw anything like it again. The square was one of the main ones in the city, with tall palm trees covering the outside perimeter and a statue of a man on horseback in the center. That day there was a photography exhibition of which we only had a fleeting glimpse, something strange for me especially when there are large format photo prints. We continued towards the cathedral, which we arrived at in just five minutes on foot. The building was built in brick with a double colonnade in the central part and three rose windows on the facade that followed the three entrance doors. The part of the central door was very decorated with statues, a frame and many images in relief. The cathedral stood at the top of a staircase made up of about ten steps and the thing that was striking, in addition to the general beauty, were the four arches placed high up, which were like lateral support for the structure. On the right side but detached from the structure, there was the bell tower, quite tall and also built in brick. The church had an imposing appearance especially because it was higher than the observation point, personally I don't think I took good photos especially for this reason but that day there was also another distraction nearby. The cathedral overlooked a square below called Plaza del Arroyo, only that day it was closed because they were shooting a film set in the past. Unfortunately there were people from the crew who did not allow taking pictures so I could not visit it or even photograph it, a real shame because it was a very old and characteristic part of the city. Furthermore, this detail also made me forget to visit the cathedral inside as well as distracting me from the photographic aspect.   Train Station Building    Plaza las Angustias  Plaza las Angustias  Cathedral and Bell Tower on the left  We walked towards the Arco de la Muralla del Arroyo and left the cathedral with the hope of returning later and perhaps finding the plaza open. The arch was a very simple structure that I believe was originally part of a much larger structure, I think it was one of the shortest visits ever. What bothered me especially looking at the arch there were parking lot full of cars on both side of it, a horrible thing. Afterwards we went back up to tour the whole area of the Alcazar de Jerez de la Frontera. This was a well-preserved fortress that had a paved park and an endless series of trees. Although the place was very beautiful and large evoking ancient times, there were not many people; neither tourists nor locals. On the one hand I took advantage of it to take some peaceful photos especially of the Torre Ponce de Léon which was very beautiful both as part of the Alcazar but also as a structure in itself. Another structure I liked right there was an octagonal tower right after the end of the Alameda Vieja gardens, the tower was beautiful and offered a very photogenic view despite being close to the road and the houses. Right in front of the tower there was an old-fashioned bar run by a middle-aged man. We went in because my partner wanted to quench her thirst with an orange juice. The man at the bar took a while to understand and then exclaimed "oh zumo de naranja". At that moment I learned the Spanish name of the drink that the man had prepared with care by cutting the oranges and squeezing them by hand one by one. When we left to reach the last place to visit, my partner said that was the best orange juice she had ever had. I am lucky enough to have a raw land where there are also orange trees and the thing I like most is picking them and then making the juice like the man at the bar had done. It is clear that the fruit prepared and drunk in this way is better simply because it is natural and not chemical like the already prepared ones that are sold in our evolved world. Unfortunately my partner did not know this detail because she came from a country that in the meantime had embraced Western capitalist culture. Just 5 minutes from there, there was the Iglesia de San Miguel, the last place we visited and ultimately the one I liked the most. The church developed around a single tower, which extended for three levels. This too, like the cathedral, was built in brick, however the iglesia was much more decorated, with colonnades full of decorations in relief present on two levels. There were also statues and drawings that from afar could not even be deciphered well. The church stood in an asymmetrical and small square, even if renovated and with many trees, it was not ideal for appreciating or photographing the church which was also tall. Despite this detail that I define as negative, I still appreciated the structure and if I did not stay longer to admire it it was only because we had to take the train to return to Seville. To be honest, I didn't expect much from the city but what disappointed me a bit about Jerez was the lack of buildings with the style and beauty of the station or an even larger old town. Even though Plaza del Arroyo, the one below the cathedral where they were filming a costume movie, gave a sense of old times, it was mostly because of the street that was entirely made up of cobblestones. Except for a few small views and large monuments, Jerez seemed to have been completely rebuilt eliminating any old structure from a certain historical period. This was my impression but not having particular expectations about the city, everything I saw was something of value that only enriched me more from a cultural point of view. Of course, as always, I explore places using logic and reasoning rather than relying on the official narrative and in the end, in one way or another, I am always satisfied. Whether it’s the discovery of a church I didn’t know and that thrilled me or simply knowing a word in a new language, everything stays with me as a positive thing. After that day in Jerez, when I cut oranges and then squeeze them, I no longer make orange juice but a “Zumo de Naranja”.  Arco de la Muralla del Arroyo  Alcazar de Jerez de la Frontera   Torre Ponce de Léon      Iglesia de San Miguel   A.M.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |