Córdoba's Subbética: Zuheros and Priego

The Subbética region of Córdoba is one of those places that has somehow managed to fly under the radar, despite having everything it takes to be a top-class tourist attraction: spectacular limestone landscapes, white villages perched on precipitous slopes, a history as rich as that of Granada and, most importantly for motorcyclists, challenging roads winding through centuries-old olive groves with no traffic other than the occasional olive-harvesting tractor. This is rural Andalusia at its most authentic, without the touristy feel of Ronda or the clichés of the Sierra Nevada.

Priego de Córdoba is the area’s biggest surprise. Few visitors expect to find, in a town of 22,000 inhabitants, one of Spain’s most important Baroque ensembles – comparable in quality to Salamanca or Santiago de Compostela, though infinitely less visited. The explanation lies in its textile heritage: during the 18th century, Priego was the capital of the Andalusian silk industry; at its peak, it had more than 3,000 active looms, and its merchants became so wealthy that they brought in architects from Granada and Antequera to build churches, oratories and palaces. The Fuente del Rey, with its 139 sculpted spouts and three cascading basins, is one of the most impressive Baroque hydraulic complexes in Europe, yet almost nobody outside Andalusia knows of it.

Zuheros, just thirty kilometres away, is the exact opposite: a tiny village (700 inhabitants) perched at the foot of a vertical limestone cliff, with a Moorish castle at the top and white houses terraced in tiers that seem to be suspended in mid-air. Beneath the village lies the Cueva de los Murciélagos, a cave discovered in the late 19th century which houses one of the most important collections of cave paintings in southern Spain, featuring depictions of animals and scenes of goat herding dating back 6,000 years. The cave can be visited on a guided tour, and the motorbike ride from the village to its entrance is a spectacular little route.

The landscape of the Subbética is dominated by olive groves, but these are no ordinary olive groves: here we are in the heart of the Priego de Córdoba Designation of Origin (D.O.), possibly the most award-winning designation of origin for extra virgin olive oil in the world. Every year, olive oils from mills such as Núñez de Prado and Carmen de Carcabuey take top prizes at international competitions in New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles. The reason lies in the combination of the local ‘picuda’ variety with the limestone soil and a particularly dry microclimate, which produces small fruits with very intense aromas.

For a ride, the A-339 between Priego and Zuheros forms the backbone of the area, but the curious motorcyclist should venture down the minor local roads that link the forgotten villages of the mountains: Carcabuey, Doña Mencía, Luque, Rute. They’re all roads with endless bends, decent tarmac, no traffic and olive groves stretching to the horizon. A tip: stop off in Cabra, at the La Solera bar, where they serve freshly made olive oil cakes served with cheese from the local mountains. And if you go in February, the almond trees in bloom amongst the olive groves create a landscape that very few places in the world can match.