Arcos de la Frontera

On Wednesday we caught the bus for a half hour journey to Arcos, a white washed hill town. Jerez has a large bus station but it was very quiet with few passengers. Signage was minimal but locals will readily help out if you are looking uncertain. The bus drops you off in the lower town and then it is a bit of a climb up to the old town. There are two churches, both with very ornate interiors and many statues, some of which are used in the Easter parades. They also both have the mummified remains of Saints from the third century on view. A bit macabre.

In the evening we had a tour of a small craft brewery, La Jerezana Cerveza Artesana. It has very small scale production but he makes 11 different brews. It was interesting to learn that he buys his malt from a company in Bamberg, one of our favourite Bavarian towns. We did a tasting where we rated the beers by sight, aroma and taste. They were very good.

Olives and olive oil are in abundance here. Drinks are nearly always accompanied by a bowl of soft and tasty green olives. Food is cooked and served in liberal amounts of oil and bottles are left out on the table in case you want to add more. Anchovies are also very nice, quite different to the tiny ones we get back home. Not as salty and they combine very well with tomatoes. We also have had pork tenderloin, which is a very tender cut we are unfamiliar with.

We are keeping later hours than we normally do when we travel, you certainly need a quiet afternoon when the heat beats down. The streets are very quiet mid afternoon, but as evening comes on people emerge and even babies and children are up late in to the night.