While it looks like we spent a third day in Jerez that is not the case. Since our next city, Cadiz, is only a 40 minute train ride away we stored our luggage and helped ourselves to some more time here.
I'm so glad we did. We visited the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre. It translates as the Royal School in Andalusia for the Equestrian Arts. It has attained Royal assent and is regarded as one of the top schools of horsemanship in the world. It's riders featured prominently in any major Equestrian event up to and including the Olympics. It is founded on establishing trust and communication between horse and rider and the results are simply uncanny.
Twice a week the school puts on a show in their main arena and it is invariably sold out. We bought our tickets online months ago to be sure of getting a seat. The show is called "How the Andalusian Horses Dance" and by God they do. They actually dance in tempo with the classical musical scores used in the show. With such subtle movements from the rider as to be apparently invisible the horse will change gait, speed up, slow down, pirouette or even prance on the spot. At times in the show the riders are not even on the horses but about 10 feet away and using long reins. No possibility of using leg and spur gestures in those conditions. And the horses still recognise the commands and respond accordingly. At one point one of the riders did not even have the reins. He stood before the horse apparently unmoving and with no physical contact whatsoever. The horse pranced and performed its moves faultlessly anyway. Astonishing to see.
The show also features an array of beautiful carriages pulled by 1, 2 or 4 horses as they are put through their paces in a carefully choreographed display of horsemanship and control.
The finale has no less than 10 riders on the arena at the same time, performing a complicated set of choreographed manoeuvres in line, in tandem, dividing and crossing through each other to reform faultlessly on the other side. Just brilliant to watch. Of course we bought their DVD.
Dedicated wheelchair lanes on the footpaths in Jerez.
How's that for thinking of the disabled. (Or maybe it's a wheelchair race track.)
The fountain in the grounds of the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre
A bit of a mouthful that translates as the Royal School in Andaluza for the Equestrian Arts.
The palace in the Real Escuela.
The ground floor is open to the public with lots of lovely looking rooms, but nothing in them.
The basement has an interesting interactive museum of the history of Equestrian arts.
A Przewalski horse at the Real Escuela.
A rare and ancient breed of horse I'm told.
The tack room at the Real Escuela if you're reading this, Leona.
Saddlery workshop for making and repairing saddles and other harness.
A design for a new harness Arrangement they are making.
The main show arena building.
The stables are attached directly to the rear.
Photography inside was strictly prohibited, but I did get this guy and his horse in the warm-up area.
Both beautifully presented you will agree.
And we finally made it into the Alcazar in Jerez.
Alcazar means fortress in Arabic and it stands as a self contained town within its walls.
Here is the grain grinding mill, circa 12th Century.
Here is the olive oil press from the same period.
Unmistakable Moorish design gardens with their geometrically shaped ponds.
Canals are precisely aligned to compass points and everything is positioned in perfect symmetry.
A model of what the old city looked like around the 12th-15th centuries.
The Alcazar is the fortress on the left hand side.
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