Peter, Luismi, Adela, Bill

Woke up on Day 2 with nothing else planned other than a much anticipated re-visit to the most wonderful Restaurante Arrieros, which is about to close after 25 years. I had previously thought I would visit the Castle and the much-touted Caves of Wonder in the morning but it turns out I can’t actually walk (well, hobble) in Aracena. So after meh hotel breakfast we just hung out at the hotel (to be fair it’s lovely) until it was time to call our taxi to get to Linares de la Sierra. We were picked up by Pepa (turns out she and her husband Pepe are THE taxistas in Aracena) and after a brief detour up to the Castle to take some shots of the VIEW (see postcard post) we were off to Linares de la Sierra. I’m guessing that Pepa is an ex-Formula 1 driver because OMG. First of all, the very narrow road from Aracena to Linares is nothing but curves and while Pepe took each one deftly she also took them with no messing around speed-wise, all the while chatting non-stop. Can I tell you – I loved her – though I did have to put on my imaginary brakes from time to time.

For this very special lunch we were being joined by my friend Bill Bolloten, a wine writer who lives in Jabugo. He made his way to Linares on motorbike. And then all the fun just happened. There are two fab tasting menus available but, as we were three people, we decided on choosing several plates to share, which gave us a chance to try a few more dishes (plus none of us do dessert).

This is a collage of various dishes tried at Arrieros at various times. But you get the gist. It’s always amazing, always worth your while. And hey, you still have two months left to experience this yourself. It’s not just the food, not just the village, not only the gorgeous house where the restaurant resides… it’s all of it.

After lunch we were driven back to the hotel in Aracena by Luismi, a much more relaxed experience than we’d had with Pepa (though I wouldn’t have missed either for the world).

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