Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez - Interesting Facts

The highly trained horses of the royal equestrian school were first bred hundreds of years ago by Carthusian monks outside the city. The stud farm is still operating. Details from the tourist office.

Visitors to the Gonzalez Byass bodega can see barrels signed by hordes of celebrities but the highlight is watching the drunken mice totter up and down a ladder left out for them by workers so they can sip at a glass of sherry.

Curiously, the city is twinned with its bigger neighbour and rival, Seville.

The word sherry is a corruption of Xerex, or Shariz, Arabic names for the city, which was occupied by the Moors for hundreds of years.

A native of the city, Rodrigo de Jerez, sailed on Columbus' 1492 voyage and was the first European to smoke tobacco. He took supplies back home but so offended his neighbours they denounced him and the Inquisition threw him in jail for seven years.

Jerez is the birthplace of flamenco rap fusion star Mala Rodriguez and folklore legend Lola Flores.

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