Cazorla

Our first stop on our road trip was the village of Cazorla. It is not only the most popular gateway to the Sierra de Cazorla Natural Park but also one of the most scenic villages in Andalusia. This was our first sight of it.

We stayed here as we wanted to explore the Natural Park which is a huge protected area and full of old castles, river gorges and lovely views. Our kind of place. Not to mention that the Guadalquivir, which runs through Sevilla and also the second longest river in Spain, originates here.

The history of the town goes back long way. It has been an important strategic point for the Romans, for the Moors and after the Reconquista for the Christian Spanish, too. Today it depends largely on tourism and thanks to this it’s full of hotels and nice restaurants. It is also famous for its olive oil and from its streets there are great views over the sea of olive trees that surround it.

For Christmas we got a great book from Paul’s mum called ‘Walks in Andalucia’. It is famous for being the first book in English that gave a comprehensive guide to walkers and I had seen it mentioned before on many hiking sites. The author is Guy Hunter Watts who since then has become our constant companion. We got to Cazorla in the afternoon and still had time to squeeze in a short walk around the village.

This was our first walk of many under the instruction of Guy. The hike was lovely, it took us up on one side of the mountain to the San Sebastian Hermitage then back on the side of the other mountain. We had some great views of Cazorla.

For dinner we tried a little tapas place suggested on Tripadvisor. We wanted to eat some meat and chose the ‘combinado Cazorleño’, four little squares of meat: beef in tomato sauce, pork with pepper, pork cheek and deer. Oh. My. Goodness. The most delicious, most tender, juiciest meat we have ever eaten. Since then our favourite dish is pork cheeks but nowhere has it tasted as good as here. Recommended!

 It already looked like we chose a great place to do some hiking around it. Cazorla even looked nice at night with its castle lit up.

Úbeda

After Christmas we went on a road trip to visit some places further away from Seville. On the way to the Sierra de Cazorla we stopped for lunch in a lovely little town called Úbeda in the province of Jaén.

Úbeda is known as the capital of the Andalusian Renaissance as it boasts almost 100 ‘buildings of interest’ (churches, palaces and noble houses) and almost all of them were built in this style. The Historic Centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We parked the car in the outskirts and wandered in. The first building we came across was the Hospital de Santiago. Its façade looked solemn but the courtyard looked interesting so we wandered in. Later I learnt that this is a very important building that is thought of as the ‘Andalusian Escorial’. Now a busy cultural centre.

As we stopped in Úbeda only for lunch we didn’t have much information about it and instead of going purposefully to visit some sites we just strolled around its lovely streets.

The town is located on a hill. There’s a well-placed viewpoint and from here you can see the rolling hills of olive trees. In fact, the town (and this whole region) is famous for its olive oil.

If you happen to travel around this part of Andalusia, have a look at the nearby Baeza. This place is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

How to make salmorejo

You have probably heard the name of gazpacho, which is a cold vegetable soup available all over Spain. It is served cold and is very refreshing during the hot summer months. Salmorejo is a twist on basic gazpacho and in Andalucia this variety is definitely more popular. It is VERY easy to make, in fact, it's so easy that even I had a go at making it. This is how the big event turned out. 

Step 1 - assemble the ingredients
This step will not take long as for the basic variety you only need 4 things: 
- a kilo of ripe, juicy tomatoes that are rich in flavour (this is the key for a good salmorejo)
- 150ml good quality olive oil
- a small garlic clove
- dry bread (it should be at least a day old, 2 days even better!)
You will also need a blender/food processor.

Step 2 - prepare the ingredients
First put a big pot of water on to boil. Whilst you're waiting for the water, there are a number of things you can do:
- wash the tomatoes and cut the middle bit out
- fill a bowl with cold water and prepare a knife
- cut up the bread into small pieces
- peel the garlic
- measure out the oil
- get the blender out (or if you're living temporarily in somebody else's house like we do and they only have a hand blender you have to make do with that.)

Step 3 - put things together
We're going to throw everything together, except the oil.
- put the tomatoes in the boiling water. After a minute or so the skin will start to break up. Take them out and put them in the bowl full of cold water. When they cool down, peel the skin off. 
- Put the tomatoes in the blender one by one and make a puree
- pour the puree on the bread. Our bread was still quite soft and soaked up the goo quite quickly but if the bread is dry you have to wait a bit until it softens up enough to go into the blender.
- cut up the garlic to small pieces and mix it in the pink goo.

Step 4 - blend the hell out of the stuff!
Not sure this needs any more explanation.

Step 5 - add the oil
This needs to be done slowly, adding only a small amount of oil. Throw in some salt, too, if you want.

Step 6 - wait
This is the hardest part but believe me, it's worth it. Put the whole concoction in the fridge. During the night all the flavours mix together and by the next day it will taste even better.

Step 7 - serve and wow your family and friends
Unfortunately Paul knew exactly how easy it is to make this dish but if you serve it to somebody who has never tried it just say that it took you a whole day to make it (and in theory, you don't even have to lie, nobody needs to know about the helping hand of your fridge). The usual toppings are boiled egg and jamón.

Even though this soup is a summer dish therefore 'slightly' out of season I was extremely proud that I made it myself and I can't wait for Paul's family to come over so I can wow them with my amazing cooking skills (I'm famous for not being able to cook).

There are many varieties of this dish. Once we had the chance to taste three different kinds, one was made using the original recipe, the other with avocado with goat cheese, and the last one with squid ink with mussels. I'm sure you can figure out which one is which.

The Caves of Granada in Sacromonte

During the visit of our Spanish friends we finally had a chance to visit the Caves up in the Sacromonte district which is right opposite the Alhambra on the other side of the Diver Darro. Meritxell had already been there once so luckily she knew the way.

The history of the caves started after the Reconquista. The people who populated this area were the gypsies who arrived together with the Christian army to take back Granada, the last stronghold of the Muslims in Spain. After the battle this group decided to stay here and together with the expelled Jews they lived here on the margin of society.

When we got to the Interpretation Centre in the Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte, we paid the 5 euro entry fee (which I personally think is expensive) and walked in. Every cave is set up differently and in front of all of them there’s a little explanation in Spanish and English. You can go in and touch the displayed items. Here’s a little selection of photos of them.

Even though looking into the caves was interesting the view from the side of the museum is definitely worth the trek up. There in front of your eyes are the two sides of the River Darro. The distance between them is not much more than 500m but they are still a world apart. The Alhambra, the ultimate wealth of kings and queens is directly opposite the caves of the gypsies and other expelled groups. A huge difference in terms of living areas, statuses and finance. Even the vegetation seem to reflect the same sentiment as on the side of the Kings it’s all green and lush, while on the side of Sacromonte it’s bare, only cacti grows there. An interesting contrast.

You can find this Museum on Barranco de los Negros, Sacromonte, walk all the way to the end of the road. You can read about the opening hours and other information on the Museum’s website here.

Finally, if you are interested in the gypsies, have a look at one of Granada´s famous poet´s, Federico García Lorca´s book called Gypsy Ballads.