Vasco Núñez de Balboa House Museum

Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from America, was born in Jerez de los Caballeros. His birthplace, in the old town, is today an interpretation centre that tells his life in order: childhood in the town, the leap to the Indies, the years he governed territories on the Isthmus of Panama and his execution in 1519. It is a short visit that fits easily between the alcazaba and the churches.

What you see inside

The house is visited like a home of its time. The tourist office highlights three spaces. The 16th-century kitchen recreates what a Jerez house was like in Balboa's day, with the hearth and everyday utensils. The study evokes the explorer's workplace, with maps, letters and expedition plans. And a room gathers pieces from Panama, the country that keeps his memory and with which Jerez maintains the bond.

It is not a museum of great collections, but a place to understand who the best-known son of Jerez was outside Spain. If you travel with children, the kitchen and the study help imagine life five centuries ago better than any panel.

Hours and admission

The tourist website's front page gives for the Birthplace Interpretation Centre hours of Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:30 to 18:30. Its museums page, however, refers you to the tourist office for the day's hours, and the office does not publish a price. The sensible thing is to call 924 730 372 first, especially if you go in the afternoon or on Sunday and Monday, when no opening is listed. Allow half an hour for the visit.

How to get there and what to combine

The house is in the old town, about 200 m from the Museum of Sacred Art, in the Vicariate Palace: you can see both in the same morning. The streets of the centre are cobbled and sloping, so leave the car outside the walled enclosure and walk up.

To complete Balboa's story, go up afterwards to the church of San Bartolomé, where the font in which tradition says he was baptised is kept. From there you go down to Plaza de España and enter the Templar alcazaba. If you prefer to have it told to you, the Tour Extremadura guided visit talks about Balboa and the Conquistadors' Route.

The tourist office is in the Centro Cultural San Agustín, at Plaza San Agustín 1, and gives maps and the up-to-date hours of all the monuments. Jerez is reached by car along the EX-112 or the N-435, and by bus from Badajoz and Seville.