Andalucia Day 32 El Bosque and Olvera

We get off to a slow start, during the night it is windy and rainy which keeps us awake and stops us going onto the patio for breakfast. Without the patio the room and house are small and suffocating. Plus the weather forecast has changed drastically, a week of coldish weather with intermittent rain makes camping where we had planned decidedly unappealing.

We find a cheap Airbnb in Olvera which we hadn't originally planned to visit but could be a good base for other things we have planned, and since we are booking in the morning for the same afternoon pass an anxious hour or so until we get a charming positive reply. 

Somewhat heartened we take some stuff to the car, notice the temperatures have fallen by about 10 degrees and go to church. The service is nice but the continuous to-ing and fro-ing of tourists who even take photos is distracting for us and clearly irritating for the local people. I am prompted to wonder where tourists' rights reach. Most were Spanish so couldn't be excused as not knowing what was going on.

Back at the Airbnb our host, who has always been exceedingly kind, offers us a taste of pata negra ham with some picos.

We set off in search of the restaurant he recommends for lunch but find that they don't start serving food until 1.30pm so head off to El Bosque, a renowned 'mountain' resort. Ok, there's some green around but it's really nothing special and the Bar we choose which is similarly renowned on TripAdvisor is equally uninspiring, packed with noisy people inside and cold, windy and waspy outside.

Discouraged, we go back to the car to warm up then venture out in search of coffee. Here things improve because in the first bar we choose by chance there's a cake section at the back and I eat a slice of one of the best strawberry cheesecakes, ever. We take away a slice of mango cheesecake for later.

The road to Olvera, just as we are commenting that the area looks more like Umbria countryside than the Sierra we imagined, suddenly opens up to a dramatic view of the pueblo blanco Zahara de la Sierra, absolutely spectacular.

Inexplicably in Olvera, because the apartment is situated in a modern area of the town, we have another hair-raising approach to the garage up a very steep bank around some tight corners and down a narrow road. Obviously Spanish people like struggling to get into their garages because these are new areas where, I imagine, they could have built wide roads.

Never mind, any grumpiness is instantly dispelled by the warm welcome of Maria and by the palatial apartment which is probably three times the size of our own home and, just as an example, has a bedroom out of a magazine and a roof terrace with a view of the Sierra and the old town and castle of Olvera. We immediately decide to stay an extra two nights for just 30 euros per night for two people.

After settling contentedly into so much space we explore Olvera. Unlike other pueblos blancos I mentioned above Olvera enchants us, as they say in Spanish. More than just white the colour scheme is white, Andalucía yellow and the dark grey/black of the iron gratings but it is the view from the church and castle at the top which is stunning, a 360° panorama of the Sierra stretching away into the distance. We actually pay the €2 to visit the castle which is in very good condition and where the view is even better.

As the sun drops behind the Sierra the wind is as cold and biting as if it arrived from the mountains at home and the view is absolutely spectacular. We scurry 'home' for some warming Moschatel and a final glimpse of the sunset from the terrace with the lights of Olvera.

Kilometres by car: 85

Kilometres on foot: 9