The fabulous Feria of Jerez
Just. Wow.
Is probably the best way to describe the annual Feria de Jerez. An area the size of 10,000 table-tennis tables (I’m not sure how big that is in football fields), with 180 restaurants erected solely for the event, seating 100 people or more each and standing a lot more, locals and visitors alike resplendent in stunning flamenco dresses and equestrian outfits, parading and cavorting in the horsey heaven that is Jerez.
You’d probably be met with a punch in the face if you were to publicly liken Feria to the American Wild West, but there’s definitely something howdy-ma’am about the whole shebang. Ladies dressed to the nines or sometimes higher in stunning flamenco dresses – typically hand made, likely by the wearer’s great-grandmother in 1955 – strolling arm in arm along the promenade. Riders impeccably turned out in formal style with posture to match. Guitarristas belting out old flamenco classics with aplomb*, and provedores doing likewise but with food and sherry. If it weren’t for the odd citizen staring into a mobile phone you’d think you’d stepped back a hundred years. More.
All this, set atop the yellowy-orange clay soil that gives the region its delightful hues. Jerez is a city that rose literally from the ground – the earth is in its bones, as it was in our clothes by the end of the day.
We’re standing round a barrel in the shade looking out at the action with a couple of cervecas and our Scottish mate Derek says, “It’s better than watching TV.”
Through the guts of this pop-up movie set runs a veritable horse highway, an endless parade of caballeros and caballeras atop the finest steeds, graduates of the Royal Andalucían equestrian school that’s based a few blocks from our house. Expert riders and wagoners all, they’re here to show off Jerez’s hamazing horsey history. Everything has been brushed, shampoo’d and polished to within an inch of its life, then arranged into a proud ensemble of gypsy flare.
But it’s not just a parade for spectators’ amusement, it’s a community-wide party that attracts visitors from around the world. Just about every female in the city from 4 to 104 dons a full flamenco dress – it must get hot in there – each more beautiful than the next, depending on how you line them up, obviously. Somehow they’re able to negotiate the uneven ground and dung traps without going arse-up, though admittedly I wasn’t there at the 3 am closing time, which might have been a different story. The blokes are more conservatively dressed yet still they’ve pulled out their finest three-piece suits.
Some more shots by our mate Ann Marie …
We were too slow to catch it on video, bugger it, but at one point a couple of beautiful grey women on horses … I mean, a couple of women on beautiful grey horses pulled up outside the caseta next door to ours, performed a perfectly executed synchronised pirouette – a full three-sixty, horses and all – then doffed their hats. A few moments later, a waiter delivered each of them a glass of fino in appreciation. They rode away, sipping, and clearly won’t have to pay for a drink for as long as the horses don’t get dizzy.
Indeed drink-riding is commonplace, as is, apparently, using a mobile phone while riding. I snapped this couple on our walk home at a bar several blocks from the Feria. I guess this is the original self-driving vehicle.
Come 10pm they light up the night so you can see it better.
Then tragedy struck. On Friday night, Jerez was hit with a sudden thunderstorm.
Photo from MSN News
News reports the next day were of intense disappointment; you can imagine getting one of those dresses wet and muddy. “Feria ruined!” they read. The rain was so heavy at one point, a horse walked into a bar.
Feria ended on Saturday night (or more like 4am Sunday). Next day, the city was choked with tourists with suitcases killing time at cafes and restaurants while they wait for their train to somewhere less Feria-ry. What with the Easter parades, the Moto GP and Feria occurring within six weeks of one another, I gotta say it’s a relief to have our home town back to normal – with just the right amount of horses, flamencanas, terrific food and bars all to ourselves.
* If a band is caught playing anything other than traditional flamenco they receive a very large fine from the organisers. True story.
