Andalucian Stallions

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This morning we had an early breakfast and started our drive to Jerez to visit the Royal Foundation for the Equestrian Arts. Our drive was uneventful until a large truck prevented us from seeing our next exit until it was too late. We continued on into the city of Cadiz hoping for the best but it wasn't long before we were lost. We stopped at a service station and asked for directions. While the attendant was explaining the way a truck driver came over and said that he was going to Jerez and that we could follow him. We followed him until we were back on the main highway and then waived a thank-you as we continued on our way.

Once we arrived in Jerez we quickly learned that driving in Spain you need to rely on your instinct. And when your instincts say go you just go. Driving in Jerez was very stressful. We didn't have a very good map of the city and reading street names can be changeling as many streets do not have street signs. We drove and drove making blind turns here and there. We thought we should stop for directions as we had no idea where we were. We were pleasantly surprised when we learned that we were only a few short blocks away. Hurray! We found parking close to the venue which was a nice surprise as parking tends to be an issue in Spain. We arrived around 10:45 am to pick up our tickets and entered the venue. We were permitted to walk the grounds and look in a few of the building. A few riders were in the warm up ring warming up. We took several pictures of the horses warming up. We went into the Saddlery and watched how they made saddles. At 11:30 we were allowed to go into arena. Our seats were in the first row.

The show begun and announcement came over the P.A system in three different languages (Spanish, German, and English) to not take ANY PHOTOS! Too bad! I know my Mom would have loved to seen the pictures of the show. The horses were absolutely incredible. What more can I say. If anyone ever gets the opportunity to see a show with Andalusian Horses; go see it, it's truly awesome. Steve and I decided that we didn't really want to do anything else in Jerez so we made our way back to Vejer.

Along the way we decided to visit another beach. We drove to Barbate which is located 10km away from Vejer and went to La Playa Carmen (Carmen Beach). Which the weather being so hot today we thought there would be more people on the beach. But only a handful of sun tanners, and a few people walking along the beach itself. We stopped somewhere along the beach for lunch and afterwards walked back to the car along the beach. The water was cool, not ideal for swimming. I was content with just walking in the water. Steve got his shoes wet again!!!!! When we got back to the the hotel we had a short rest and then went for a walk before going for dinner. We went for dinner at the Moroccan Restaurant again. Yummy! During dinner we were visited by one of the local cats who wasn't too keen on making friends with the patrons but more interested in checking the floors for tiny morsels of food.

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