We will be driving between Madrid and Granada in July and will stay overnight in the Ubeda or Baeza area. We would like to tour an olive grove, see how olive oil is made and of course taste the olive oils, but I am having a hard time finding a place. Any recommendations?
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8109 posts
Consider contacting the Olive and Olive oil visitor center, Úbeda. It might be able to help with current information.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you both for the replies!
Nick, if you have more information about Ubeda, i would love any touring suggestions you have. We will definitely be interested in shopping for the Tito pottery. Do you have any favorite shops?
Posted by
back in the Americas
812 posts
A few years ago we stayed in Baeza for two nights and also visited Úbeda. I learned about these two towns from recommendations here on this forum. We took a cab over to Úbeda, spent several hours there and took the public bus back to Baeza. The historic centers of both towns are so attractive and very picturesque. Lots of narrow streets and the architecture is amazing and neither is very extensive. Úbeda also has a parador right on its main plaza. In Úbeda I visited Casa Museo Andalusí, which I believe is sort of a museum in an old Andalusian house with a rather intriguing collection of random old items from Andalusia (I liked it) and also the Sinagoga del Agua. Both towns have little tourist trains that you can catch and do a general ride around the area to familiarize yourself. There are wonderful scenic lookout points in Baeza, where you see for miles onto the hundreds of thousands of olive trees in the Guadalquivir Valley. There is a Mirador de las Murallas and Mirador del Obispo. Just keep wandering beyond the cathedral and you will come to the lookout points. I see on the map that ther are also several miradores (lookout points) in Úbeda.
We also wanted to visit an olive oil farm. Our hotel recommended oleícola San Francisco on Calle Pedro Pérez in the nearby town of Begíjar. We didn't get to actually tour the olive groves but rather the olive oil processing facility with taste tests and a man who explained how they used to press the olives with the old presses and the new modern machinery that is used. The man talked about the different types of oil and we tasted several and they also have a small shop for purchases. This is their website Oleícola San Francisco. We did not have a car and we took a cab there and back. It is only a few minutes away from Baeza. I am sure there are other olive farms and mills in the area too, maybe some even take you out to the groves. Since you will have a car it will be much easier for you to get around but within the towns themselves you will not need the car. All very walkable.
Posted by
stevens point, wi, usa
1195 posts
Hi,
Slightly off topic. Baeza has the Cafe Central Theatre and place to enjoy a drink and be amazed at the funky decorating job of its interior.
B and Ubeda are nice places to visit.
Olive oil tour...it was OK. Learned about the modernization of the industry. How fresh it should be to be good.
wayne iNWI