ANDALUCIA

We left Madrid early Thursday morning to beat the rush hour traffic.  Since the Spanish have their National Day of Spain (on the 12th, the day we were leaving) we wanted to get out before the festivities started.  We got to watch the sun come up.  It was beautiful!

We passed thousands and thousands of olive trees on our six hour drive.

We did not know that Spain is the greatest exporter of olive oil in the world.

(It's amazing how much you learn about places when you visit them)

On our drive I googled lots of info about olive trees and we educated ourselves on how olive oil is made.

It is incredible how many groves there are.

The internet says there are an estimated 300 million olive trees in Spain.

We stayed at the Westin La Quinta Golf Resort outside of Marbella.  I had been so looking forward to our stay here because I just knew it was going to be beautiful.  I was not wrong.  We were upgraded to a beautiful suite overlooking the golf course and mountains.  The suite itself was very spacious with a large closet/dressing room, large bathroom (with shower AND tub) and a large bedroom sitting area with a deck overlooking the golf course.  It was very posh and the bed was super comfortable which was a relief coming from the AC where...not so much.

We immediately got suited up and headed out to the pool.  The water was a little cold but it was still enjoyable getting in.  Mostly I just loved sitting by the pool in the sunshine and reading my book:) 
 

Later we got some food at the hotel restaurant and enjoyed relaxing that night.  The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day.  We got ready and went down to the hotel's breakfast buffet.  This buffet was phenomenal and had much to choose from.  After filling up (literally) we drove into the Andalusia mountains to get to the ancient town of Ronda.  We were able to drive right into the town and get a parking space (in a narrow alley) not too far from the old bridge.  Ronda is one of the oldest towns in Spain.  It is an amazing city that was settled by the Celts in the 6th century BC.  There are ancient Roman, Moor, and Spanish ruins.  The old and new parts of the city are divided by a deep chasm in the earth and there are three different bridges that are now used to get from one side to the other.  It is very much a tourist destination and there were lots of people but Rick and I enjoyed walking the ancient streets and wondering about life in the past.  We stopped for a cool drink on a restaurant's terrace overlooking the chasm.  Ronda was such an interesting town and we thoroughly enjoyed our exploration there.   

That afternoon we had booked a tour through Viator to tour an Olive Plantation.  It was called LA Organic Experience.  We were able to watch a short video and then walk with a guide through the olive groves.  She explained the difference between the different groves.  We also passed by an old church and fountain that was renovated a few years ago by the owners.  We enjoyed all that we saw.

At the end of our tour we stopped at the oldest trees on the farm.  Olive trees start producing after about 4 years and continue to produce for over a hundred year.  This tree is estimated to be 800 years old. I think it is retired:)

The old trees were surrounded by lavender plants.  The plants had all been harvested but I found this little piece on one bush.  I picked it and by putting it in the car, we enjoyed many days of smelling it's freshness.

I kinda wished I found a few more stems.  It smelled sooo good!

Here is a picture of a demonstration mill.  Our guide (Nellie) taught us how olive oil is manufactured and the difference between the quality of oils.

Lastly we got to have an olive oil tasting.

We added some balsamic and it was muy bueno!

We even bought some to bring home.

It was expensive but we are excited to share it with others!

After our tour it was time for dinner but could not find any restaurants open in Ronda.  It was six o'clock and nothing was going to be open for at least an hour.  The Spaniards, we have found, like to eat late.

We opted to drive back to San Pedro de Alcantara (by our hotel) and eat in the little town there.  We found the first place we could find - a bar:( - and had some dinner.  It was decent enough and we were both happy to get back to our room.  It had been a long but exciting day!