Bonnie & Bill's Adventures: Grazalema and Zahara

Two of our favorites of the white villages are Grazalema and Zahara. I have written about them previously (April 27 post). We, of course, wanted to show these unique places to John and Marcy so we had a great day visiting them both.

Grazalema nestled at base of Sierra de Grazelema

Fernando's leather shop

Upstairs in workroom of leather shop. Fernando is taking measurements for the leather case he is making for my portable keyboard for my iPad.

Leather pieces. I was able to select the leather for my case.

Happy group. Photo taken by Fernando's wife Jo.

Good place for coffee which John and I had while the ladies
shopped for...ready for this?...scarves!

17th century Iglesia La Aurora on the
Plaza de España

Retired hydraulic engineer Checking out the hydraulics

Bonnie talking to compazino about his pet dog and his two month old pet goat (whose
photo I did not get). He said they don't fight because they eat different foods...

Grazalema is nestled below a magnificent rocky outcrop known
as Peñon Grande

Overlooking Sieerra de Grazalema Natural Park

John and Marcy feel like they are on top of the world

Just outside Zahara we stopped at El Vinculo, an olive oil pressing and processing business, family owned. The young man in the picture below is of that family and was telling us about his great (sic) grandfather starting the business in 1755 and how it has stayed in the family up to the present. The building we were in has a retail shop where oil can be bought. On the wall behind him are photos of famous bullfighters. There is even a photo of Ernest Hemingway and another of Orson Welles, both photos taken in his grandfather's home in Ronda where both men spent a lot of time. Much of Hemmingway's "Death in the Afternoon" came from his being in Ronda and knowing people in the bullfight profession. Click Molino El Vinculo to go to the website.

He was so charming and helpful and proud of the family heritage

Sort of a museum of artifacts from family life in the campo

We watched a video of how they grow, harvest, and process
olives to make oil. Excellently done. Unfortunately, they do
not sell DVDs.

Wider view of retail shop and "museum"

Building housing the retail shop'

For making the olive oil, crushed olives are spread on jute mats, one meter in diameter, then stacked very high and pressed in large hydraulic presses. The oil seeps through the mats and is collected. This is called "cold pressing'. Oil from this first pressing is called 'virgin olive oil'. There is actually no such thing as 'extra' virgin olive oil - it is either virgin or not!

Jute mats

Hydraulic presses on far wall

Pressed olives are put in these large hoppers for further processing

After that informative stop we drove into Zahara which has terrific views. It is a small, quiet village and is a great place to stop, rest, and have refreshment.