Currently in: East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • Home
  • Destinations
  • Eating
  • Staying
  • Practical
  • Miscellany
  • Visiting Australia!
  • About
25. October 2015

Our house-sit in Cazorla, Spain

Sierra Cazorla from Cortijo los Abedules
Sierra Cazorla from Cortijo los Abedules

We are currently house-sitting in Cazorla, in southern Spain. This house is a small hotel called Cortijo los Abedules, which incorporates three self-contained units of various sizes. It's the end of the season now, and the owners have shut the business down while they've gone away for their own holiday, so we are looking after their house and their dogs.

 

'Cortijo' means 'farmhouse', and this house used to be a house for an olive grove.  'Abedules' means 'birches', so this is the farmhouse of the birches; not that there are any birch trees here - Birch is the owners' surname.

Cortijo los Abedules
Cortijo los Abedules


The property still has a few olive trees on it, but it is in the middle of a vast ocean of olive trees that extends way beyond the horizon - olives and olive oil are very big business in Spain!  

Olive groves to the horizion
Olive groves to the horizion


The olive trees are grown in bare soil, which is derived from the ubiquitous limestone, and so is very pale in colour.  The dark green olive trees are planted in lines and  spaced well apart for machinery access, so the pale soil is very visible and contrasts strongly with the trees.  This produces a distinctive pattern that is clearly visible from a great distance as it wraps over the undulating landscape.

Olive grove pattern
Olive grove pattern


Our charges are two small, middle-aged dogs of mixed breed called Munchy and Leila, who love being walked in the endless olive groves.  They are well set up here with a nice enclosed garden to run around in, and are generally easy to get on with.  Here they are, looking a little nervous about having their photo taken:

Munchy and Leila
Munchy and Leila

 

Cortijo los Abedules is about five kilometres from the town of Cazorla, which is a white-washed village set into the foothills of the Sierra de Cazorla, a limestone mountain range that rises suddenly out of the undulating plains.

Cazorla
Cazorla

 

The Sierra de Cazorla, and two other mountain ranges, the Sierra de las Villas and the Sierra de Segura, comprise a huge national park called Parque Natural da Cazorla Segura y las Villas, which is the main attraction for visitors to this area, including us.

Sierra de Cazorla
Sierra de Cazorla

Would you like to add something, or ask a question?  Add a comment below (you can leave the 'Website' field blank):

tagPlaceholderTags: home, Staying, Spain, Dogs, House-sitting
Comments: 2
  • #2

    Chris (The Journey and the Destination) (Tuesday, 27 October 2015 14:40)

    Thanks Elea - your words are very encouraging!

    I've though of your trees while I've been here. Alll the trees here are much smaller than yours - very heavily pruned. I'll post some photos later.

  • #1

    Elea (Tuesday, 27 October 2015 13:52)

    Hola y lo que unas vacaciones interesantes!
    I want to be there! You people are having fascinating experiences - keep the stories coming - and I'm enjoying learning very interesting facts from them.
    You might remember we've got two olive trees in our yard - if you pick up any unusual tips on keeping the trees healthy, do pass them on. Your photos are superb!
    Elea

Click any picture to expand it.


Follow The Journey and the Destination on Facebook:



Who's blog is this?

Find out about me, Chris, the author of The Journey and the Destination!

 

If you have any questions that you want to ask me use a comments forms on any page, or you can contact me here.


Subscribe!

Join the The Journey and Destination mailing list to be alerted of new posts by email! Add your email address here:





Archive

Find all of my posts here:

April, 2018

March, 2018

Flying, and observing humanity

February, 2018

January, 2018

December, 2017

Our House-sit in Mountain River

November, 2017

More of Launceston’s Macaque monkeys

Our Trevallyn house-sit and its views

House-sitting and kayaking at Beaupre Point

October, 2017

Bushwalking in the snow!

Climbing Mount Cygnet

September, 2017

Question Time at Parliament House

August, 2017

Walking to Mt Ainslie & Mt Majura

 A walk on Coila Beach

July, 2017

June, 2017

 Vincent Van Gogh at the NGV

May, 2017

April, 2017

Climbing Platform Peak, Tasmania

The Tasman Bridge Disaster 

Climbing the Tasman Bridge  

Cornelian Bay boat sheds  

March, 2017

Walking the Alum Cliffs track

A surprise find: HMAS Curlew

Paddling to the Coningham NRA

Kayaking at Snug Beach

A break at Snug Beach

February, 2017

January, 2017

December, 2016

November, 2016

Cloud drive security

Travelling with ‘the Cloud’

Barossa Farmers Market

October, 2016

Navigating the wilderness - Handy GPS

Travelling with a desktop monitor

Free-range pasture eggs

Parking in Melbourne, Australia

September, 2016

August, 2016

July, 2016

Get a scarf!

Macaques of Launceston

Launceston's Cataract Gorge

June, 2016

May, 2016

April, 2016

A great Aussie road trip

A evening at Coolum Beach, Australia

Jimdo – Inserting YouTube videos

March, 2016

Our house-sit in Marcoola, Australia

February, 2016

Window seats

The amazing-ness of aeroplanes

January, 2016

November, 2015

December, 2015

October, 2015

Our house-sit in Cazorla, Spain

A Porto attraction

September, 2015

More gum trees in Portugal and Spain

Port wine in Porto

Porto, Portugal, and its bridges

A disturbing event

Australians living in Portugal

Losing things (and not losing things)

Staying in Lagos

Faro sea food

Portuguese pavement

Faro, Portugal

August, 2015

Kilkenny (beer)

Ringo the killer cat

Our house-sit in Ballycarrigeen Lower, Ireland

July, 2015

Best food in Melrose

Porridge in Scotland

 Highland games

Hiring a car

A short trip to Edinburgh

 Melrose

Crossing the River Tweed valley
Our house-sit in Melrose

The Eildon Hills

House-sitting in Scotland

House sitting

June, 2015

May, 2015

Bison in Yellowstone National Park

April, 2015

March, 2015

Spontaneous artistic ice-up

Flying to the Arctic Circle (nearly)

The secure area at Incheon Airport 

Incheon Airport, Korea 

Stopping over in Korea – Incheon Grand Hyatt

Flying into Incheon Airport, Korea

'Night' flying with Korean Air 

Flying to Seoul, Korea

Introducing the blog

About | Privacy Policy | Sitemap
Copyright 2015-2017 The Journey and the Destination (Please don't take my stuff)
Log in Log out | Edit
Jimdo

You can do it, too! Sign up for free now at https://www.jimdo.com

  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Canada
    • England
    • Iceland
    • Ireland
    • Korea
    • Portugal
    • Scotland
    • Spain
      • Seville
    • USA
      • Yellowstone
    • Tasmania, Australia
    • Victoria, Australia
    • Canberra, Australia
    • New South Wales, Australia
  • Eating
  • Staying
  • Practical
    • Hiring cars
    • Planning your trip
  • Miscellany
    • The joys of flying
    • Dogs I've met
    • Cats I've met
    • Horses I've met
    • Renewable energy
    • The art of blogging
    • House-sitting
    • Bushwalking
    • Kayaking
    • Truly miscellaneous
  • Visiting Australia!
  • About
Close