olive oil

Spain

Winding down sure does
Satisfy in a very
Particular way.

Granada is ringed with mountains. This is probably a good part of the reason that long-lost kings chose to build incredible palaces there. It sort of sucks for biking.

The mostly good news is that it's mostly downhill, and the N-road mostly avoids the mountains. Mostly. We spent the morning on a non-neglible climb, made more tolerable by the gorgeous wastelands around us. Barren areas are somehow so appealing to bike through... super populous areas are so civilised and settled, and by this point in the trip we're far from being civilised any longer. I wonder when we'll find a place to wash our clothes..

Anyway, we meandered through the mountains: a task which was made more complicated by the fact that road work not indicated on our map had turned parts of the N-road (which roads are usually suitable for cycling) into an autoroute (where cyclists are not permitted). The Guardia Civil were out in force today, though, so we got by on asking them for directions to roads that we would be able to take.

The N-road followed a series of rivers through the mountains, and so managed to stay rather flat. The rivers had also carved out fabulous gorges for us to gaze at in wonderment on the trip through. About halfway down to the coast, we happened upon an olive oil museum. An olive oil museum. We stopped to check it out, and the building housed displays about making olive oil through history, as well as a collection of "vintage" olive oils for sale. We elected to buy some fresh olive oil and some fresh sherry (a particular type of sweeter wine that this region is famous for) and a delicious fig cake. THE OLIVE OIL IS TREMENDOUS.

Riding along the coast was a breeze; it's mostly flat in this area, and we were lucky enough to have a tailwind during much of the ride. As we sped towards rockier areas of coast, the road began to meander up and down on its way, and we found a fabulous spot to camp on one of these meanderings. We're stopped tonight at the foot of an ancient tower overlooking the sea; tomorrow we'll watch the sun come up over the water. Tomorrow is Evan's birthday!