Jerez - Peter Arscott

the view from Úbeda towards the Sierra de Cazorla

A long time ago, arriving anywhere in Spain meant being greeted by the smell of tobacco and coffee. Nowadays, with smoking restrictions in place, it is just the coffee you can just about whiff as you get out of Málaga airport and walk into the dry heat of Andalucía. The drive from Málaga to our destination, the city of Úbeda in Jaén, was a trip through a dry but varied landscape of mountains, valleys and great stretches of olive groves as far as the eye can see. This is the region that produces the most olive oil in the world, alone producing more than the second world producer of oil, Italy. Something like 20% of world production comes from here. There are about 60 million olive trees in this fertile land, and a squirrel could travel happily across the whole province without once touching soil (they claim). Anyway, the photograph above was taken from the hill of Úbeda looking down and across towards the Sierra de Cazorla. The next image is of a squirrel.

The cultivation of olive trees goes back centuries in the different Mediterranean cultures, and includes the Greek, the Phoenician and the Assyrian – even the Bible mentions it over 400 times, since it was used not only as food but as a light source. Of course, the oil had to be stored, and what better way to contain it than the ceramic amphora or jug.

amphora jug of oil, aren’t you?

olives in a three-legged bowl

In Spanish a potter is known as an alfarero, a word that comes from the Arabic “alfahar” meaning “ceramic” and “ero” denoting a profession, and without doubt the best known alfarero in Úbeda is Tito. And pottery has been made in Ubeda for over a thousand years; there have been many influences and styles that have left their mark, and at Tito’s ceramic workshop you can experience absolute fidelity to traditional forms as well as a decorative eclecticism that incorporates and recreates the contributions of each historical period, from Iberian geometries to colourful Baroque via Arab greens and the blues of the Renaissance.

Inside Tito’s workshop

From the cool oasis of Tito’s you can walk to one of the most striking Renaissance collection of buildings in Spain – the Vázquez de Molina square where you can visit the Palacio de las Cadenas (so named after the decorative chains which once hung from the façade), the chapel of El Salvador and the Basílica de Santa María. The interior of the chapel is stunning, built as a burial place for the local nobility in 1536, it is a Spanish architectural jewel with a main altar that forces one to sit down and contemplate.

interior of El Salvador chapel

The town lends its name to a common figure of speech in Spanish, andar por los cerros de Úbeda (literally ‘to walk around the hills of Úbeda’), meaning ‘to go off at a tangent’, which yours truly did by succumbing to a mild case of shingles. Luckily the local chemist is very helpful so no doctor was required, but it did mean that any consumption of local delicacies such as perdiz en escabeche (partridge), andrajos (a stew made with flour, oil, tomato, pepper and rabbit) and paté de aceituna (olive paté) had to be postponed, as did any drinking of the local Torreperogil wine.

Écija – the Frying Pan of Spain

This small sacrifice was soon forgotten with the next stage of the trip. The drive to Jerez de la Frontera meant a brief stop at Écija, the Frying Pan of Spain, and though it turned out be hot enough, the temperature was not as high as in the UK at the time. Something of the dryness of the Spanish landscape and its underlying human endeavour and activity inspired a set of pots once back at the workshop – an abstract interpretation with a marked personality. What do you think?

landscape pots

However, back on the road, the landscape changed gradually the further West we drove, and by the time we were nearing Jerez the fields were white. Albariza is a chalky soil that retains moisture within while forming a dry pale crust above that prevents any drying. This is ideal for the growing of the Palomino grape used in the production of sherry and brandy. The result is a stripy landscape of green and white, grape and soil.

Barbadillo’s cathedral-like warehouse of soleras

A tour of the Barbadillo sherry makers in the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda taught us that manzanilla is made there whereas fino is made in Jerez. Because of the sea breeze that enters the giant bodegas where the maturing takes place, manzanilla has a slightly salty tang. Manzanilla is camomile, which is another aroma typically found in this type of sherry, and where better to sample some than at a bar in the centre of the city. After admiring the cathedral-like building that houses the hundreds of soleras (oak barrels) of manzanilla we headed back to Jerez.

Bar Juanito

Bar Juanito is a cool and airy space clad inside and out with locally-made ceramic tiles where they serve all the sherries along with their specialities, artichoke and deep-fried whitebait. As with most towns and cities in Andalucía tiles are used to decorate buildings on the outside, such as the tower of the church of San Miguel, and to help keep interiors at a lower temperature, for example in the courtyards and patios of houses, and in public and domestic rooms.

the tile-clad tower of San Miguel, Jerez

But if you are feeling the heat then go to the beach. The one at Santa Maria del Puerto is wide and clean and, despite the fact that it is the Atlantic, easy to swim in. The view across the bay allows you a glimpse of Cadiz in the distance.

Cadiz in the distance

In a further attempt to link ceramics, however tenuously, with this blog and the trip to Spain, here is an image of a large pot made two or three years ago which was inspired by the movements of a flamenco dance. It is called Flamenco Pot.

Flamenco pot

Should you want to meet any of the ceramics face to face, keep in mind that other than the workshop in Ledbury there are outlets too in St Ives, Worcester, Cambridge and London – addresses and contact details on the website. Click here to go to the website.

Leaf pot

Hasta luego, amigos.

Driving through Andalusia’s spectacular landscape last week, belatrova’s workshop and its kilns came to mind. It was a heat so fierce that, when getting out of the air-conditioned car, it felt you were being hit by a freight train. However, previous visits show that it is possible to adapt and deal with the problem by drinking large amounts of cold water and beer, slowing the pace down, and not doing much between 3pm and 7pm.

belatrovians will have noticed that our blogs are often about Spain; we keep going back and discovering new places unvisited before, and it is a big country. This time the trip concentrated on Sevilla and Cadiz, with a lot of places in between. And it was hot – 41 ° centrigrade is fine for lizards (of which there were many) but it is a challenge to pale pink people from Albion, specially in the decision-making department.

It turns out that when the temperature is unusually hot (or cold) we use energy in the form of glucose to maintain a steady temperature in our body, so our internal thermostat allows us to shiver and sweat, correcting for excessive heat or cold. Keeping the body cool seems to require more energy than warming it up and so uses up the resource that would otherwise be used for mental processes.

In other words, we are less likely to make good or complex decisions if we are struggling in the heat. In fact we are likely to just take the easy option that requires no effort. Thus, why climb a hill to visit the village church and admire its ornate Baroque carvings when you are standing right next to a cool and shady terraced bar serving cold Cruzcampo, and why bother putting factor 10 sun block cream on after a swim on the beach at Cadiz when you know you are going back into the water in ten minutes. Result: beery headaches and sun burnt shoulders.

Sevilla is a beautiful city on the banks of the Guadalquivir River. Its pace is stately and entirely in keeping with the weather, its narrow streets dark and inviting, its monumental Gothic cathedral balanced by the sheer grace of the Giralda tower, its Maria Luisa Park a Moorish paradisical garden laid out for the Exhibition of 1929. But the highlight was the Alcazar built primarily in the 1300s – a wonderful Mudejar (post Moorish) palace that is a subtle intricacy of ceramic and wood. And belatrova really likes ceramic and wood, as you know from our Granada trip.

The next stop was in the Grazalema range of hills and mountains to the south of Sevilla. In the Alcornocales area (it is a type of cork tree) the view was dramatic, the water from the lake down below changing colour from morning to night and the blue sky above visited by griffon vultures and Bonelli’s eagles for whom even a belatrova birdbath would be too small.

The wildlife seen included deer, woodpeckers, giant crickets, cobalt blue centipedes, scream-inducing hornets, gekkos, large moths and other unidentified creatures only briefly sighted as they scurried from under your bed or out of your shoes. Here are some pictures we took.

We visited towns perched on hills and ravines (Arcos de la Frontera) or cradled in hot valleys (Ubrique) or with its own cooler microclimate where the rare Pinsapo pine tree thrives (Grazalema). We dropped in on Jerez de la Frontera and drank manzanilla from Sanlucar (the less well-known sherry rival). The founding Moors named the town Xeres, by the way, and so we inherited the pronunciation of “sherry” from them.

And finally Cadiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in western Europe, founded by the Phoenicians, who called it Gadir, and birthplace of notables such as the composer Manuel de Falla, the guitarist Paco de Lucia and the poet Rafael Alberti.

We coincided with the celebrations of the Virgen del Rosario, whose effigy stopped a tsunami from the Lisbon earthquake causing any destruction of that part of the city. Her very heavy statue and float are carried by twenty men along the streets of the neighbourhood for three hours before she is taken back to the church of Santo Domingo. Here is a short video of the procession. Click here to see it.

It was belatrova’s first visit to Cadiz, and we cannot recommend it too highly. If ever you go there get in touch and we will tell you where to have the best breakfast in Andalusia.

So, it is back to the heat of the kiln at No 9. We are making ceramics and tables to show visitors during hArt Open Studios from 12 – 20 September – put it in your diary, though we will send a reminder.

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ceramics, olives, squirrels

beat the heat