Tourist Guide Olive Oil Greenway 100 (Córdoba Province Section) 95 75 25 5 0 English 100 95 75 25 5 0 Tourist Guide Olive Oil Greenway 100 95 (Córdoba Province Section) 75 25 5 0 Credits Coordinator of publicaon: Rafael Rodríguez Aparicio, Head of Provincial Tourist Board of Córdoba. Author of texts: Carmen Aycart Luengo. Old olive trees Photographs: Rafael Ruiz Fuente, Rafael Rodríguez Aparicio, Carmen Under the glaring midday sun, Aycart Luengo, José Luis Rueda, Paco Tortosa, Arantxa Hernández Colorado, Fondo Cristóbal Poyato, Francisco Sánchez Polaina, Dusty olive groves Francisco José Hoyos Méndez, Grego Polo, Vicente Rodríguez, Of the Andalusian country! Thyzzar, Rocío Jiménez Lozano, David Polo Carmona, Juan Gama, Jose Vicente Matas Moral, Miguel A. Cabeza, Patronato Provincial de 100 Turismo de Córdoba, Mancomunidades de Guadajoz‐Campiña Este y The countryside of Andalusia, swept Subbéca Cordobesa, Town Councils of de Baena, Cabra, Moriles, Aguilar de la Frontera and Puente Genil. By the scorching sun, 95 Knoll to knoll kept, Collaborators: Catalina Molina Rodríguez, Antonio Camacho Mesa, Pablo Luque Valle, Antonio Gavira Narváez, Mancomunidades de Olive groves on and on! 75 Guadajoz‐Campiña Este, Subbéca Cordobesa and Campiña Sur Cordobesa. Design and DTP: Julio Merino Gavilán. Antonio Machado 25 Mapping: www.guiasbicimap.com Prinng: 5 Copyright deposit: ISBN: 0 Table of contents Olive Oil Greenway ...................................................................................................6 Introducon..............................................................................................................8 General Map...........................................................................................................10 Gradient Profile.......................................................................................................11 History of the Oil Train ............................................................................................12 The Olive Oil Greenway: a route full of life ..............................................................13 Observaons and Advice.........................................................................................14 100 OLIVE OIL GREENWAY ‐ CÓRDOBA SECTION ........................................................16 SECTION 1: Guadajoz Viaduct ‐ Luque Staon (10.1km).......................................16 95 SECTION 2: Luque Staon ‐ Zuheros (7km) and branch to Baena (7.9km) ............30 75 SECTION 3: Zuheros ‐ Cabra (15.9km)..................................................................46 SECTION 4: Cabra ‐ Lucena (11.5km) ...................................................................62 SECTION 5: Lucena ‐ Puente Genil (21km) ...........................................................74 Comarca de Guadajoz‐Campiña Este .......................................................................92 25 Comarca de la Subéca Cordobesa..........................................................................94 Comarca de la Campiña Sur Cordobesa ...................................................................96 5 General Informaon................................................................................................98 Annex: Olive Oil Greenway ‐ Jaén Secon (Jaén ‐ River Guadajoz, 55.1 km) ...........100 0 6 OLIVE OIL GREENWAY he south of the province of Córdoba offers among its aracons for tourists, a unique Topportunity for those seeking the perfect combinaon of acvity, nature and peace and quiet: the greenways. These old railway routes, recovered and redeveloped for the enjoyment of cyclists, pedestrians and walkers are located in unique natural 100 sengs just a short distance from towns and villages 95 filled with history, heritage, tradion and gastronomy. 75 In this guide we have compiled the best of the secon of the Vía Verde del Aceite, or Olive Oil Greenway, that staon of Campo Real, at Puente Genil, with the runs through the province of Córdoba. This trail, so‐ addion of a 7.9 kilometre branch to Baena. This is the 25 called because it follows the route of the old Oil Train, longest greenway in Andalusia and one of the best in 5 runs for 120 kilometres between Jaén and the old terms of amenies and complementary offerings. 0 Along its course, the visitor will be taken by the charm The Sierras Subbécas Natural Park and the olive of the staons, such as those of Luque or Cabra, the groves of the province of Córdoba provide the scenery tunnels, its thirteen 19th century metal viaducts for these routes, which can be taken on foot or by metal, the pedestrian walkways and the rest areas. bicycle, with an opon for everyone. Here at the Provincial Tourist Board of the Provincial Council of Each of the nine municipalies it runs through on its Córdoba, we are commied to accessible tourism and route through Córdoba will leave an impression on we are working to ensure that the greenways are anyone. Taking advantage of the route, it offers the accessible those with reduced mobility. It is our 100 visitor its rich heritage, customs and tradions, its priority to plan and develop a provincial tourist 95 people and its gastronomy, with extra virgin olive oil offering for everyone. I hope that you enjoy this guide from the Baena and Lucena designaons of origin and and that you can use it to discover more of the 75 the wines and vinegars from Monlla‐Moriles the province of Córdoba. stars of the show. This tourist offering is completed with accommodaon and hospitality that's adapted Antonio Ruiz Cruz 25 to the needs and demands of the modern tourist, President of the Provincial Council of Córdoba 5 focused on ensuring the highest standards of quality. 0 7 8 Introducon The Olive Oil Greenway invites you to visit some of the most magical corners of Andalusia along a 128‐kilometre route that joins Puente Genil (Córdoba) with the city of Jaén. This Guide describes only the 73 kilometre secon of the Olive Oil Greenway that runs through the province of Córdoba as a first step, to be followed by the forthcoming publicaon of a Guide incorporang the Jaén secon. The route is remarkably easy and accessible, running as it does along the old railway line where we follow in the wake of the old Oil Train. 100 The splendid metal viaducts and tunnels, ditches and embankments le to us by 19th century railway engineering allow us to traverse a 95 rich and diverse landscape with very lile difficulty. Recovered old abandoned staons have been redeveloped into bustling 75 restaurants full of life that welcome travellers equipped with boots and backpacks, bicycles and saddlebags, prams and wheelchairs. Where those with reduced mobility and of different abilies are 25 excited to find family and friends enjoying the adventure of the Greenway, sharing the same experiences with no obstacles. 5 0 The creaon and promoon of the Olive Oil Greenway has been with unimaginable colours in the heart of nature and a silence the fruit of the combined work of many different organisaons at broken only by the wind and the birdsong. The vibrant villages and naonal (including successive Ministries of the Environment, Adif staons along the way offer plenty of fun enjoyment, with a warm and the Spanish Railways Foundaon), regional and local level, welcome from locals to make us feel at home. including the Regional Government of Andalusia and the The Olive Oil Greenway is but a pretext for the traveller to explore Provincial Council of Córdoba. Local residents and entrepreneurs the south of the province of Córdoba at their own pace, to be have turned the Greenway into an acve tourism and leisure seduced by the charm of the villages, the local hospitality and the space. The infrastructure is safe, isolated from motor traffic, well excellent cuisine of these ferle lands. The Greenway offers us signposted and easy to travel. 100 history, natural and cultural monuments, landscapes and tradions The Olive Oil Greenway is a lile slice of paradise that grabs us to discover and make our own, leaving us longing to return even 95 and moves us, that gives the gis of sunrises that nge the sky before we've le. 75 25 5 0 9 10 100 95 75 25 5 0 Gradient Profile 100 95 Olive Oil Greenway (Córdoba secon) Luque‐Baena Branch 75 25 5 0 11 12 History of the Oil Train In 1893, aer several decades of planning and different phases of Cuban War and during the Civil War from 1936 to 1939 when it the project, the Andalusian Railway Company circulated the first served as an alternave transport route to the frequently bombed trains on the Linares‐Puente Genil Railway, providing transport for line between Espeluy and Seville. At this me, the State intervened the output of the mining areas in the north of Jaén and Córdoba given the precarious situaon of the line, incorporang it in 1941 towards the ports of Málaga and Algeciras. These trains, which also to the recently set‐up Naonal Network of Spanish Railways transported agri‐food products and travellers, were soon (RENFE). predominantly used for the bulk transport of olive oil in tank carriages, hence it became popularly known as the "Oil Train." The lines connued struggles came to an end in 1985, a fate that 100 would befall many other lines throughout Spain, leaving hundreds In 1918, the branch line to Baena began of kilometres of railway lines out of 95 operaons and, one year later, the service. On the Linares‐Puente Genil Zamoranos loading dock was built, an line, the last trains to circulate in 75 example of the hope deposited in October 1984, when, as a result of a progress and