“We must see this” and so we did.  What sealed the deal for Cadiz to be part of our itinerary besides Anton’s family were actually the horses.  And if you too love horses, this you must not pass up.

Jerez de la Frontera, a municipality of Cadiz, lies in a fertile upland region on the southern edge of the Andalusian plains, between sea and mountain.  This fertile land that surrounds the city produced some fine wines and sherry that has given rise to some of the most prominent families in the area.  This wealth enabled them to invest on impressive stud and bull-breeding farms all around the city.

And for breeding the famous and the beautiful Andalusian Horses, Jerez became the cradle of Spanish horsemanship.   Beautiful, docile, and gentle, the purebred Spanish horse impresses with its sculptured beauty of noble bearing and natural high action.  Extremely elegant, naturally graceful in its rhythmic pace, and extraordinarily beautiful, the PRE (Pura Raza Española) is a horse breed from the Iberian Peninsula with 3,000 years of history.  It has been known for its deftness as a warhorse and was prized by nobility.

One of the best places to learn more about these beauties is in the Royal School of Equestrian Art or the Real Escuela Andaluz del Arte Escuetre, a riding school comparable to the world-famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

A beautiful garden surrounds the premise.  A 19th-century palace, the Palacio de las Cadenas, serves as its headquarters and visitor center.

And whatever else you do, make sure to catch its equestrian ballet show entitled “How the Andalusian Horses Dance.”

To the beat of traditional Spanish music, the horses perform complex and arduous movements with effortless grace and control.

An absolute must.

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