Driving Adventures

I was a little bummed earlier this week, because I wasn't able to go on a day trip to Cadiz. Originally, I signed up to take the boys with me, and Dan was going to pick up Sophie from school. But his work schedule changed abruptly, so I had to cancel a free trip I had really been looking forward to. In consolation, he told me we could go exploring as a family this Saturday. We didn't have any particular destination, since there is not much that is open on a Saturday morning. But we wanted to get out of town and go a little further than we had before. So we decided to drive to Jerez (pronounced Her-eth) and do some shopping for things that aren't available on base. Jerez is just North of here, about 30 minutes, and is known for its sherry (Tio Peppe and Sandeman brands) and world famous Andalusian horses. But the bodegas are not open on Saturdays until much later, and the horse shows are only on weekdays, so we were just there to do a little reconnaissance.

Getting to the Ikea shopping center in Jerez is easy. We got on the main highway near our base gate, only had to make a few turns, went through some lovely rolling fields and vineyards, and could see the shopping center right from the highway. Our destination was Bricor, a home store similar to Lowe's and Michael's combined. We needed paint, not only for Daddy's hobbies, but for the kids too, since we weren't allowed to ship any liquids. They have all kinds of craft supplies which the kids were excited about. I checked out their curtains and rugs, but even though there was a great selection, they were very expensive, so I will keep looking around.

Next door, we found Toy Universe, a discounted toy store where almost everything was under 10 Euro. Very cool! We will definitely be back there at Christmas time. Sophie chose a Princess art kit, and Danny found an collection of construction equipment. Armed with new toys, and munching on snacks, the kids were sitting very pleasantly in the car for once. The morning was still young, so we decided to head into the Old Town part of Jerez and do a little exploring.

Well... this is where the day went drastically downhill. We didn't have any particular destination, so we were fine with the idea of getting lost and driving around a bit. But we also didn't have a GPS or a very good map, and we soon learned the city was NOT what we expected. It started off well. We saw an ancient wall with fortifications, and an archeological museum. We were about to park and check it out, but the parking spot was not legal. Next thing we know, we were swept along into a series of 1-way streets that started off as a wide tree-lined avenue lined with bars, and quickly became a tiny maze of narrow, twisting cobblestone streets that wound around old churches and apartments. We couldn't find a way out of the maze! We couldn't back up or turn around, since it was way too narrow and only 1-way, so we had to keep pressing forward, even though each turn looked like it was going to dead-end into an alley, a wall, or a dumpster. We drove for about 15 minutes, not going in circles, but simply not finding any access to a 'normal' road! The kids were a little nervous about being lost, but mostly sat quietly making "creepy" faces. I finally stopped and asked for directions, and it turned out we had to get to the other side of the 5th church we had passed, then turn right, go through a roundabout, and make a left. Amazingly, I understood all of this in Spanish! Hand gestures are a great thing. So, we found our way out, got back on the main highway, and headed towards home.

At this point, we were all getting a little hungry for lunch. But since there isn't anywhere to eat on the highway, we decided to exit and drive through Puerto de Santa Maria and find a restaurant. It was almost a repeat of the above scenario. We entered the city a little sooner than intended, and started following signs to the Bullring just to stay on major roads. But at some point we made a wrong turn and the Bullring signs ceased. Thankfully, then we saw a sign for Rota, and we jumped at that! You have to go through about 8 roundabouts to get out of Puerto on the Rota road, but once you see the signs you basically keep going straight. I remembered seeing an Irish restaurant on the way when I had gone there before, so we finally pulled up behind Molly Malone's, and we were all never so glad to get out of the car! Their lunch was surprisingly delicious! The kids shared a chicken sandwich, Dan had some garlic mushrooms and good curry, and I had a very tasty Irish stew! The kids were getting a little tired, but amused themselves sipping juice and making silly faces.

In the end, it was a good day. It was refreshing to get off base and explore the area around us. It was a little frustrating at times, but both Dan and I kept our cool and no unpleasant words were exchanged. We had a family adventure, and we all survived! Will we go back to Jerez? Definitely. Will we get a GPS before making that trip again? Probably. Will we be brave enough to explore some other local towns on future day trips? Most assuredly! We have learned a lot, and we learn more every time we go out. The learning curve is a little exhausting for everyone, but this time I was really impressed with how quietly the kids sat for about an hour while we were navigating. Probably because we kept reminding them they had cool new toys to play with when we got home. Yep, I will remember that trick too! Cheap new toys are a good deal for everyone! :-)