Priego de Cordoba

September 30, 2004

Another very fine day, that began with a short but steep climb to the nearby village of Zuheros. I don’t recall for sure why we stayed in Baena rather than Zuheros but I think it was because of lack of information - I think I was uncertain if lodging was even available there, much less any that could be booked over the internet fifteen years ago. If we ever return to this area though, we will certainly stay here - it’s a very beautiful little white town, tucked into the hills at the edge of Subbetica Natural Park. We fell in love with it instantly (or at least as soon as we had recovered our breath from the stiff climb up to it), and were sorry that we only had time for a brief visit before continuing on.

Looking south to Zuheros, the thin white smear at the base of the hills.

Zuheros looks close here, but we still have a mile or two of switchbacks ahead. It’s nice that we got an early start and the air is still fairly cool as we climb.

Looking across the basin of wall-to-wall olive groves below Zuheros. Our road out of here crosses over that low saddle.

Zuheros Castle, built during the Moorish occupation, dates to the ninth century.

From Zuheros we continued south and skirted the western border of Subbetica Natural Park. We rode on the Subbetica Via Verde, a greenway that follows the route of an old olive oil railway. This is what was I believe our first experience with Spanish green routes. It is (or at least was at the time) unpaved, with a crushed rock surface that we were at first uncertain of but found to be fine on our wider tired Cannondales. It was very pleasant riding through the foothills and olive groves on a basically level, car-free route leveled out by tunnels and bridges.

The Subbetica Via Verde is part of a quite long pathway that runs from Jaen to Puente Genil, but we only followed it for about 20 miles before leaving it to cut through the very hilly heart of Subbetica Natural Park, with Priego de Cordoba on the eastern edge of the park our destination for the night.

Priego de Cordoba is supposed to be a fine town to visit, and I wish I could provide a useful account of it. I can’t though - I really don’t remember much about it at all, other than that it is surrounded by some very beautiful country. You’ll have to go check it out for yourself and report back.