Nestled in the Sierras Subbéticas lays the small white village of Zuheros. This charming town rolls with its sleepy vibe and is sure to enchant just about anyone. With its low population, nearly 600, it feels as if all the townspeople know each other. While strolling down its lanes one cant help but notice that all the locals stop to chat with each other or at least offer a cheerful wave. Guess in a town that small, one can’t help but know everyone. And know everyone’s business too. Always perks and disadvantages to small town life.

Zuheros sits along a cliffside smack dab in olive country. Which is why we chose to venture here. It makes an excellent base for activities within the general area. Biking, hiking, rock climbing, driving tours are all well within reach.

Town Life

Driving through the exceptionally narrow streets of Zuheros while navigating its one way streets can be challenging. There are free parking areas just below town that provide an excellent opportunity to ditch your car. That is if you can find a spot. The lots often fill up by mid day.

Within town, one can wander through the streets, admire the scenery and simply enjoy being in this slow paced village. Naturally, there’s ruins of an Arabic castle one can visit, the Castillo de Zuheros. It seems all towns have a ruin or two to tempt you. This one is beautifully situated on a prominent cliffside jutting out from the mountains and town itself. It certainly takes center stage when looking up at Zuheros from the valley below. There’s a nice viewing platform surrounding the castle with remarkable views into the valleys below. Olive trees spread before your eyes as far as you can see in every direction. There’s a restaurant here that uses this terrace. Seems like a popular spot to grab a drink and enjoy the view.

Just across from the castle is a small church, the Parroquia Ntra. Sra de los Remedios. It’s a pretty and quaint building. There’s another place for drinks just around the corner from here, also with a lovely view. This one seemed to be more sheltered from the wind.

Did Someone Say Cheese?

Zuheros is apparently known for its local artisanal goat cheeses. Which is divine as I whole heartedly adore cheese. Nearly all cheese. Even the stinky ones that smell like a 15 year old boys sweaty soccer shoes. Found that out when I visited Portugal. Some of the cheese we tasted there stunk to high heaven but tasted divine. But Munster cheese is gross. And Swiss cheese. Can’t figure out who actually likes those ones. Oh, and gruyere cheese tastes like dirt to me. Not good.

We were wandering down a street in town when a sign grabbed our attention, a sampling of 5 local cheeses and a glass of wine offered within. No price given. Hmmm. Cheese and wine. Great combination. We continued walking and sightseeing a bit before returning to the shop, the Palma Salon. Walking in I was instantly a tad overwhelmed. This appears to be a little bit of everything shop. Part coffee shop, part beauty salon, part retail for beauty supplies, part bar. Oh, and there was a gentleman making jewelry in the back.

We sat down and were asked if we wanted a café. Nope. Cheese please. Through our poor Spanish and our hosts slight English, we were asked a boatload of questions. In the end I think she was asking if we wanted a sampling of cheese or to be full with eating the cheese plate. I thought we ordered a small plate. Not so much. She went to town on that sucker. There must have been at least ten cheeses. Eight hard cheeses ranging from cured to semi cured with two different types of manchego. There were two soft cheeses, one of which she torched and half melted. The cheeses were a combination of goat cheese, sheep cheese and a mixture of the two. There were loads of grapes, crackers and walnuts piled atop the cheese. We were given healthy glasses of white wine. I think my eyes were as big as saucers looking at that plate. I love cheese, but dang. That was a load of cheese. I think something was lost in translation on the small plate request. But it was delightful and we sat there for a remarkably long time munching on cheese, sipping wine and watching tourists and locals breeze through the shop.

My favorite was a tiny elderly lady who ambled in, said “hola” to every table, sat down and ordered a coffee about the size of her head. She downed that like none other and went on her merry way, saying “chau” to all the tables on her departure. Eventually we gave up on finishing our cheese, paid our dues and headed out the door. Great shop. Definitely stop by if you’re in the area.

Vias Verde del Aceite

The main reason Zuheros was chosen as a destination is its proximity to the Vías Verde del Aceite. This 35+ mile long trail follows the route of an old oil railway line through olive trees and vineyards. Meaning the grade is always tolerable, which is perfect for a leisurely bike ride. Better yet, there is a bike rental facility a 5 minute drive from Zuheros thats directly on the trail. No awkward bike transportation needed.

As per usual, we had a plan. Get up early-ish. Drink coffee. Have breakfast. Head out to the bike shop. We had bikes reserved at their 10 am opening hour. The plan? Bike all day. Return sometime before the shops 19:00 closing hour. Easy enough. We packed lunch, snacks and enough water for the day. We should be set.

There was only one small problem to our plan. When we woke up and checked the weather, Doug’s app said it was 32 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Mine said 34 degrees. Uhmmm. No thank you. It wasn’t supposed to reach 40 degrees until around 10am. I had not brought gloves or even a beanie. This would not do. This trip was supposed to be WARM, not freezing. So. Change of plans. New pick up time of noon and we hustled into a nearby (larger) town to hunt down gloves and a hat. Glad to say I am now the proud owner of a rather ugly beanie and both of us now have insanely thick knit gloves that actually fit out long fingers. Great find. We left happier but still rather kerfuffled about the temperatures. At least our hands would be warm. Testament to the gloves, my hands stayed warm the entire time and thats an amazing feat for me.

Once we hopped on our bikes (no helmets were distributed-weird), we set off in the direction of Zuheros. We had places to be and things to see. At a leisurely pace because neither of us had been on bikes for several months, if not longer.

This trail is magnificent. Views include castles on hilltops, mountains, cliffs, valleys full of olive trees and rivers. Pass through small towns. There are intermittent “rest stops” with picnic benches. There was even a bathroom conveniently located off trail in one small town. The Estacion de Luque (Luque station) had an outdoor museum of sorts with quite a few olive oil production equipment and old rail cars on display. It was nice to poke around and check things out before heading out again.

We rode across a few aqueducts, which are trestles in all actuality. These were entertaining because a few had what appeared to be half rotten ties across the path. They were quite soft. We chose to ride along the paved sides.

Saw a few abandoned buildings. Old ones with roofs caving in. One was two stories with an intact stairway. Naturally I ever so cautiously climbed it. Didn’t trust the upstairs floorboards enough to walk around but it was happy to look around from my perch on the stairs. On the main floor, the building was quite intact and you could wander through the “rooms”. There’s no remaining glass in the windows and I nearly got beamed in the head by an incoming sparrow. That sucker came in hot like a missile. Not sure who was more taken aback, the bird or myself.

All in all we rode for a very pleasant 28 mile out and back ride. Saw beautiful countryside and more olive trees than I could ever dream of counting. We had a lovely day out.

What Else?

Hiking seems to be rather popular in this area. There’s a hiking trailhead just off the lower parking lot in Zuheros that gains you access into the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park. We day hiked the Cañon del Rio Bailon area and found the area quite pretty.

While we did not visit, the Bat cave, or Cueva de Los Murciélagos, it’s a big attraction of Zuheros. I believe access is limited and a reservation is required.

Further Afield

If you have a vehicle and are willing to drive a bit, the region is full of olives. Meaning you can head out and purchase or sample olive oils from the region.

We stopped in at Aceites Vizcántar. This is a lovely olive oil facility thats family run. In retrospect, we should have contacted them ahead of time to schedule a tasting. They do offer an olive oil tasing experience where you learn about olive oil quality if you pre book. They also have tours out to their tree farm. All sounded amazing. As it was, we chatted with a gentleman who spoke a tad of English and mostly Spanish. He told us all about their products, months of harvest and explained as best he could to us. All in a slow speech which I greatly appreciated as I was able to follow along when I could grasp a word or two here and there. Enough to get the general idea anyway. While a true sampling was not possible, he did pour us a few spoonfuls of oil. Smart man, he started with the best first. Which had a delightful “spicy burning” sensation at the back of my throat. Delightful. It was amazing. We certainly bought olive oils from him (and an olive oil hand cream and lip balm) and learned all about filtered vs unfiltered, months of harvest and olives in general. I enjoyed my time immensely and can’t wait to return for a proper tour next time.

After olive oil came wandering through Priego de Córdoba. This town was an absolute nightmare to find parking in. They have a shocking lack of bread shops and bakeries. They do have a fountain with a small statue in it. Doug seemed to like the town while I was not impressed. Vibe was off.

Next up was the number one thing on my list for the day. My true desire. To sample anis liqueur at Anís Machaquito Destilería in the town of Rute. This drink is generally consumed as an apéritif and is distilled from green anis seeds in copper stills. The liqueur has a strong “herbal licorice and fennel” taste, supposedly. Sounds terrible. Licorice is disgusting. But I love anis and couldn’t wait to try it.

We had looked online the previous night at tour openings. They take you through a museum, show you the distilling process and you end with a few samples. They had loads of openings at all time slots of the day. Being the Tuesday during Easter’s Holy Week, we weren’t originally sure they’d be open. While it’s not an official holiday in Spain a lot of places are still closed for the day. Not wanting to risk it we showed up earlier than their last tour. Tours were every half hour. Last tour was at 3. We showed up for the 2pm tour only to find the place closed at two, via a printed off note on the door. I was devastated. Still am. Had we skipped that silly fountain town we *might* have made it in time.

We left town and drove around some winding road through countless olive groves to the small town of Iznájar. The town lays above a reservoir. This town is built on top of a crazy steep hill and the streets are remarkably steep. They have a castle of sorts and a few rather nice viewpoints. We saw a remarkably ornate patio “garden” here. Apparently they have yearly competitions on these decorated terraces. Everything in town was closed of course. Overall it’s a lovely town. There’s a viewpoint just down the road looking up at the town thats quite lovely. After a bit of wandering we called it and day and headed home.

In Synopsis

This olive oil region of Spain is delightful. The countryside near Zuheros is gorgeous. We enjoyed hiking through the park and biking along the “oil train” trail. Found the town of Zuheros charming in its quiet peacefulness. There’s plenty to do in the area, though a vehicle would likely be preferred. Just make sure things are actually open before heading out. And don’t trust the websites. Apparently they aren’t that accurate.