Rocio Osborne

Old picture of El Puerto de Santa María harbor

Every time I come to El Puerto de Santa María (the harbor) I always feel like I’m traveling back in time. Having grown up here, I have so many memories of this place. It’s still the same small and quiet seaside town, with its own rhythm, and a characteristic smell of sherry, dampness and old wood. As much as I love city life, I love being here for a while and adjusting to the harbor’s laid back tempo (and I can stay at my mum’s, which is great!!).

El Puerto is the kind of town where everybody knows each other, they are all smiles, and there isn’t a pinch of stress in the 60 km around. The beach is great, but it’s actually better in the winter than in summer. During the summer, the city goes from having it’s usual 90,000 people to 400,000.  (Yes, they bring some stress, traffic jams, and unknown faces with them, of course!).

But this time of the year is just perfect. You can go have some tapas downtown without a crowd. The best tapas I’ve eaten here is the “tortillita de camarones” (kind of crunchy, thin, fried omelette with tiny shrimps)!!!  It’s very typical of this part of Spain.

Tortillitas de Camarones

Yesterday at sunset, I went for a walk along the beach and  it was  gorgeous. It reminded me of when I was at school and used to go to the beach to study and it helped me focus on the subject. Now, coming to the beach helps me clear my mind after a long day of work.

Today, I’m going to my family’s vineyard to do some work with the team and see how they are doing here. We have more than 200 hectares of vineyards for the wines we make, which are mainly Sherries. The vine cycle is a bit delayed compared to Malpica, so flowering should just have started. I’ll take pictures so I can share them with you and show you a little bit about the Sherry region.

Hasta mañana!!
Rocio