The Feria Del Caballo, Jerez, Spain

Fifteen years ago we were stopping at Arcos De La Frontera in a Parador on our honeymoon. It was the last leg of four Paradors in Andalusia (Jaen, Granada, Ronda) and we traveled to Jerez to take in the sherry and city. We arrived and the place was deserted, had we come to the wrong place or on the wrong day? We asked and were told that everyone was at the Feria so we caught the local bus and went.

The park was amazing with everyone dressed in their finery and horses prancing around ridden by men dressed as Tio Pepe and women with the brightest and frilliest dressed ever seen. It was clearly the place to be seen and to see everyone! Sherry mixed with Cava and hospitality marquees surrounded the main area.

The lasting vision was of ladies on horseback reaching out to the hidden pockets at the bottom of the dresses to retrieve their mobile phones! Well they love to talk even if it is only to the lady on the next horse.

I hope I have captured some of the style of the Feria in these two paintings which were the hardest to do but were rewarding once finished.