Day 19. Wednesday 26 March.

We made it out of Callejon Pilar de la Imprenta unscathed for the last time. Peugot Doris (PeuDo) decided to take us on a circuitous route towards our first destination Martos, Cradle of the Olive Grove, where we found parking – a miracle – right alongside the walking track we planned to take, the via aciete. We followed the instructions in a booklet: there was, however, no map so it was a bit of a challenge. The stroll took us through olive groves towards a pomace factory, where we were promised views of 500 year old trees. We think we saw them, and have convinced ourselves we did, but are not really sure.

Back to town, to find we were too late for a cafe coffee as they had closed at 1230 and it was by now ‘beer o’clock’. But we picked up some sweet things from a Patisseria and got good coffees at a bar, for 2 Euros (less than 4 AUD). Take that for cost of living, Jim!

So, on to Zamoranos, our home for the next three nights. As we left Martos T noticed a sign pointing to the centuries old olive trees so we did a turn around to see if we could confirm our sightings. No. By now PeuDo had tried to unsuccessfully get us back on track a few times, so in a fit of pique she took us on some round about way to our destination, then refused to find our actual address. We switched to the phone, and after running us around in circles Doris eventually guided us there.

We had messaged back and forth with the owner, Sara, who lives in Majorca. Maria, her mother-in-law, met us to introduce us to the house, which was managed without her English or our Spanish, partly with the help of the translating device, partly by broken phrases, gestures and just common sense – and lots of laughs.

After 5PM we headed into Priego de Cordoba, about 10 km up the road, to get supplies. Mountain views spectacular! Had a wander around, noting the absence of fresh milk but T marveled at a bunch of spinach (no prizes for menus for next 3 nites), resisted the salted fish (a reminder of Scandinavia, but,  done with tomatoes, it’s a traditional stew here), 2kgs of enormous strawberries for 3.75 euros (pass, as we can’t consume quite that amount) then headed back with dinner (spicy marinated chicken bits) and a bit more, arriving just at dusk.  PeuDo again gave us the run around in Zamoranos, but we got there!