My Spanish Adventures: La vida sevillana: Jerez de la Frontera

The very first thing I did when I got to Spain was buy my ticket to the Spanish Royal Equestrian Show. The first thing. That's how excited I was to see this show.

It was awesome! Totally lived up to expectations.

My friend, Chiarra, and I woke up early and took the hour train ride from Sevilla to Jerez de la Frontera. We got off the train, walked out the door, looked left, looked right, and headed back inside to go get a tourist map. We made our way through town and had a lovely breakfast at a local cafe. Fresh squeezed orange juice? Why yes, I'd love a glass.

We walked roughly a hour half across the city to the beautiful Real Fundación. It's a walled center with iron gates and beautiful gardens inside.

We walked around a bit inside, watching a few Andalusians in the walker, a circular machine that allows the horses to walk in a circle without being together. They also had a few Prezwalski ponies, a very old breed.

The show itself was stunning. We had fantastic seats, second row on the corner near where the letter C would be (at the side of the "throne"-the best seat in the house). My favorite acts were the first act and the last.

The first act featured one man and his bay stallion in traditional doma vaquera clothing. The duo performed several series of movements with such lightness-it was breathtaking. His canter was super forward and willing and he had no trouble with his lateral work. It was as if he was floating.

The last act was the Carousel. The choreography was absolutely incredible. Every movement was perfectly precise-there literally was no room for error. The stallions work head to tail with inches in between each other; they pass through movements without any indication of a need to adjust their rhythm. It really was spectacular. One horse in particular caught everyone's eye. I've never seen a horse move so gracefully before. It was truly effortless; as if no rider was giving him cues and he was moving simply for the joy of it.

Other acts included a pass de deux, well choreographed and had one very cool move in which the two stallions pirouetted in towards each other. If one of the horses was but a step out of his pirouette they would have collided. There was also a carriage driving display: two teams of four (?) horses showed the two styles-Spanish traditional and the modern English. The turns they made were very tight. My now horsey friend was impressed; she like how they turned like a motorcycle, breaking in two instead of bending throughout. There was also an in-hand show which was very cool. I've seen better caprioles at Medieval Times though ;) All in all the show was very impressionable. Bought a few shirts at the gift shop afterwards.

Next we walked around the town. Went looking for their handcrafts show, but it was abandoned by the time we got there, seeing as it was around 2 and siesta time. Happened to bump into a Mexican restaurant as we meandered along. Fajitas, how I missed you! Not the best choice in hindsight given the virus I was fighting, but I can't say no to Mexican.

After lunch, Chiarra and I had about three hours until we had to catch a train. What is Jerez know for, aside from the horses? Bodegas (wineries) and sherry. But instead of going to a winery, what do we do? We go to the zoo. Duh.

We pretended to be the animals in the cages. As follows:

Chiarra: Flamenco flamingo