Our last two days in Jerez, at least on this trip, were quite good.
The weather cleared up and we spent a lot of time outside. Admittedly, some of that time was spent shopping which is not my favorite activity.
On Thursday we took a walk with our friend Amarita. We have known her for years since using her services as a guide here several years ago. This was the kind of walk where we really were not going anyplace specific but we ended up seeing parts of Jerez we were not familiar with. The weather was just right for walking and sitting in plazas and that is what we did. Patricia had me put a pin in my mental map of stores because she saw some clothes she wanted to check out later. [I need to start telling her “I can’t remember the store you’re talking about” when she wants me to go back.] We ended our morning walk by sitting at an outdoor café near our apartment and spending an hour or so over a cup of coffee and talking.
We have been taking our meals in the morning or early afternoon but last night we decided to eat dinner out. A thing to know about many of the restaurants is that they are open for breakfast (desayuno) and / or lunch (almuerzo) but then they close at 3 or 4 PM and don’t reopen for dinner (cena) until 8 or 9 PM. That’s late for us. There are literally hundreds of restaurants to choose from and many are within easy walking distance. We picked one that is fairly close and had an excellent Italian dinner. Waling around in Jerea in the evening seems perfectly safe to us and is another reason we like to visit.
Today, Friday, was our last full day in Jerez. After doing mundane things like laundry and some cleaning, Patricia decided she wanted to go back to the store she asked me to remember yesterday, so down Calle Honda we went. In the small clothing store the only language seemed to be Spanish but we were able to ask for what Patricia wanted and even get the right size. While she was trying on the clothes, I had a simple conversation with the clerks about where we are from and how many times we had been to Jerez and about the famous Festival de Flamenco that we often visit in the spring. We have found the people here to be interested in us and happy to speak with us.
This afternoon, our host Pedro, with whom we have also become friends over several years, arranged a lunch for us with his partner Antonio, Paz, a friend of theirs, and Amarita, a mutual friend. We met at Pedro’s house, which is very close to the apartment and got a tour of it and met their cats and dog. Then we walked to the restaurant Albores, a favorite of ours and theirs. The weather was ideal for sitting outside and we spent a couple of hours over the meal. We talked about many things (but not cabbages and kings) in a mix of English and Spanish. I think we get along well because we have so many things in common.
The rest of our evening is going to be spent packing. We leave Jerez for Lisbon tomorrow morning. We have two short flights and one long wait in between. The weather forecast for Lisbon is for rain for the next 5 days, but we will hope that doesn’t interfere with our visit.
I added pictures to the pictures page.
