I don't often drink sherry, but when in Jerez... as part of our bus excursion, we spent a few hours touring the Bodegas Tio Pepe, where we learned all about how they manufacture sherry. Although I live in California, I've never been on a winery tour. Crazy, right? I love a good (aka any) glass of wine. The tour at Tio Pepe is what I imagine a winery tour to be like, except substitute sherry; wine with brandy and a higher alcohol content.

We started in the lobby, where we looked at pictures of celebrities who have visited Tio Pepe.

I like funny signs. I found this one in the restroom.

The first stop in the tour was a outdoor covered arena with barrels of Tio Pepe sherry stacked sky- high. Many of the barrels had pictures of flags from countries around the world.

Next, our tour guide took us inside of the factory. The sweet, syrup fragrance of the sherry was over-powering. It was too much for the kids, who held their nose in disgust until granny took them back outside. Even as an adult, the intensity of the smell was hard to handle.

The not-so-secret sherry formula.

We walked through beautiful courtyards that connected the buildings.

Posing with Mr. Tio Pepe.

We entered a reception area filled with antique furniture.

Which led to a dim, dusty room with streaming sunlight. The room held enormous barrels, antique equipment, and candelabras that were straight out of The Phantom of the Opera.

Another beautiful connecting courtyard.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was taking look at the barrels signed by royalty and celebrities. Plenty of famous visitors!

My absolute favorite part of the Bodega Tio Pepe is their unique way of dealing with rodents... graciously, leaving them a glass of sherry and a little ladder!

A few snaps on our way to the sherry tasting room.

In complete contrast to the older buildings, the sherry tasting room was a modern marvel. It was like one of the pavilions in EPCOT. We were given two tastings, admittedly, I didn't care for either. I found the sweeter of the two, to be slightly more palatable.

Naturally, all tours end at the gift shop. The Tio Pepe gift shop was huge. Even though we weren't thrilled with the tasting, it didn't stop us from buying several bottles of sherry, flavors that we didn't have a chance to try. As of this posting, we still haven't tried them. We need to have a party and break them out!

Coming next...the world famous Jerez horse show!

Oh my goodness, we took so many pictures in Cadiz. So much so, that I've decided to break up my Cadiz trip report into three separate posts. In Cadiz, Dan's parents treated the whole family to a bus excursion, taking us to the Bodegas Tio Pepe ( famous Sherry manufacturer) and to see the world famous Jarez De La Frontera horse show. It was a busy day!

Exiting the ship, we took this picture with a "sailor". These Royal Caribbean pictures crack me up. I love the cheesy costumed characters that make the experience a tad awkward.

Cadiz was our last port and by the time we got here, we had become pros at the excursion process. We checked-in, got our stickers and caught our bus without a hitch.

I took a bunch of pictures out of the window as our bus drove to the Bodegas Tio Pepe.

The clouds created some stunning views. I love how these shots turned out, but they pale in comparison to the real deal. You had to be there.

As many of my readers may already know, I spent several years volunteering for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Research Department. I spent a majority of that time on a multi-year flamingo research project. Subsequently, I have a love-hate relationship with the birds. However, one of the coolest moments of the trip came on this bus ride. We drove through a nature reserve and saw a flock of wild flamingos. Although it was a brief glimpse (too quick for a photo), it was really thrilling to see these magnificent birds that I've studied in captivity, flying free.

We found a large bull sign in a field. Our tour guide told us that these signs used to be all over the area, but they are disappearing.

When we reached the Bodegas Tio Pepe, we had a pretty walk to the entrance.

I enjoy taking signage and advertisement pictures. I don't know who this guy is, but I love his snazzy bow tie and colorful poster. Doesn't that make you want to buy tickets?

Next post we will head inside the Bodegas Tio Pepe; celebrity signed sherry barrels and drunk rats!