Olive Oil Mill and Arcos de la Frontera

Once again I am making this entry for the previous day because I seem to have adopted the eating habits of a true Spaniard.  Most evenings we don't leave to go to dinner until 8:30 or 9:00 pm.  Dinner usually lasts until 11:00 and by the time Rhonda and I get done skyping, I'm too tired to post to the blog.  Anyway, we visited an olive oil mill yesterday and learned how the olives are processed and the oil is collected and stored.  Contrary to popular belief, the olives aren't "pressed", they are pulverized and the oil is extracted by centrifugal force.  Then the mash that is left is processed and the pits are separated out to be used as biomass fuel.  What's left of the fruit is fed to pigs, helping to ensure the steady supply of ham that this country runs on.

The owner of the mill also operates a small vineyard and had some excellent wine that we were able to sample, and I bought a bottle to put in my luggage and drink at home.  It was a great stop along the way to our hotel for last night and tonight.  It's an old convent that has been converted into a hotel and it's perched atop about a 300 foot cliff above the town of Arcos de la Fronteras.  The hotel only has 13 rooms, so we've completely taken the place over for a couple of days.  My room looks out over the dropoff, and I also have a small terrace overlooking it. The views are spectacular and I was able to sleep with an open window last night instead of A/C blowing on me, a nice change.  About 5:30 I started hearing the roosters from a farm down below, but was able to go back to sleep with no problem.  I will try to post a pic or two, but this site is slow today...we'll see.  Adios!