Sunday, 4 October, 2015
Today we start out by bus to two Olive Oil factories. At the first, Oleum Viride, we have a minimalist breakfast.
As well as Olive Oil, these people also organise bicycle tours. Hence, the bikes in the last picture. They take us on a tour of the facilities which seem to be quite modern. For some reason I only took one photo that worked out.
We then drive to another Olive Oil factory.
It is a very old factory. We are given a tour by the owner, delightful Lady – picture later, and I take a couple of snaps.
We go into the main shop / sales area. There is a “small snack” there, much more than the breakfast earlier.
As the blurb above shows, they also do accommodation and are rated 5 #2 of Specialty Lodging in Zahara de la Sierra.
Both olive oil places indicated that the price for olive oil had been dropping dramatically which made it hard to make a living purely on olive oil alone. Molino El Vinculo probably did better out of the tourist trade e.g. with the accommodation. If you are in the area, make a point to drop in and see them, they are very friendly and delightful people.
We take the bus back to The Lodge where Frank has stayed back to make us a nice lunch by the pool.
Observant readers may have noticed that Virginia and Anna were missing in this morning’s photos, along with Frank of course. They did this to provide Frank with assistance in preparing lunch which consisted of:
Sue and then Frank went for a swim and maybe others. The bus takes the Hotel group back to their Hotel and some are going to go into Ronda early. I find out, as she is leaving, that Julie is one of those going into town. We find out later that all of the group, except Julie, eventually came back to the Hotel but Julie pranced around Ronda all afternoon. The following are some of the photos that she took.
Julie then entered a local museum and took lots of photos of all kinds of interesting things. However, this is designed to be a food and wine Blog so I will not include any. Refer to:
Link to Casa Palacio Museo Lara
There was a museum there too but Julie said it wasn’t as good as the other one and I am not going to include any of the photos any way.
Meanwhile, back at The Lodge, we rested and then caught the bus to go into Ronda. We pick up the Hotel group and go in. I have been waiting a long time for this pun but “Help me Ronda, Help, Help me Ronda”.
The bus is not allowed to drive in the main town so we are dropped off at the bus station and then walk the rest of the way.
We finally meet up with Julie at the “New Bridge”.
Link to the History of the New Bridge
We walk around the old town for ages, looking primarily at doors and door knobs. Some of us were getting grumpy with Carlos as it was well past time for food and drink. We eventually get to our destination.
After what seemed like ages, our, remote, end of the table was served with a Rose. I think I would have to say the worst wine I have ever tasted. Ridiculously sweet and with an off putting flavour. It wasn’t off, just terrible. We send it back and get it replaced with:
Sue had to maintain that bottle of Rose for the evening.
The Bus Driver had to end his shift and so we were going to have to take a taxi back. Supposedly there was only one in town which probably meant 4 different trips spaced out over an hour or two. Fortunately, the restaurant was able to organise us a bus to take us all back in one trip. Much better. We collapsed for the night.