We went out for a bit of spotting – both aircraft and bird! Hayden managed to take a photo of an MD-80 taking off, whilst I was quizzed by the Guardia Civil.. by the time I had explained to him that I was just taking a photo and showed him my security pass, I had missed the opportunity! Security are fine provided you carry your security pass, and wear a high-visibility jacket if you’re inside the airport perimeter. He seemed satisfied and let us continue on.
Jerez airport tower and you can just about see the aircraft that has just taken off:
We decided to pay the falcons a visit since Hayden hadn’t seen them yet. I’ve been teaching myself some Spanish and trying to improve it at every opportunity, so this time I managed to ask a few questions to learn a bit more about these birds. I was told that the falcons are a mixture of Spanish, Central European, American and Mexican, and there were some that were bred at the site here in Jerez.
Later on, we caught the bus into Jerez town centre to have a birthday dinner at Churchills – for Keenan’s 22nd birthday.
We were stunned when a lady came out to take our orders, with perfect English, in an English accent – as we were expected to be greeted in Spanish! The owners had moved from England to Spain a few years ago, and had moved to Jerez about a year ago and opened up Churchill’s. A group of tourists from Holland, Belgium and Germany strolled over for a chat at the end of the evening – they had flown to Malaga and were touring Andalucia by car.
Came back to FTE around 2am and went straight to bed, as there was groundschool the next day!