If olives are your thing then this is the place to be. On the train here we saw kilometre after kilometre of olive groves stretching away to the horizon. 12,000 square kilometres to be precise. Olive trees as a species are between 20 and 40 million years old. Imprecise, I know, but it's the best information I could get. There are about 1000 varieties of olives but only about 150 are cultivated. It takes about 50 years for the tree to reach full production and they live for between 300 and 600 years. There, that saved you a lot of research and provided the sort of useful facts that can be trotted out the next time you contemplate that olive in your martini while trying to make small talk to people you hardly know.

The university of Cordoba offers a Master's Degree in olive growing and olive oil technology. Sign up HERE. UNESCO has the olive landscapes of Andalucia on its list of possible world heritage sites. A nice cathedral in the middle of an olive grove might seal the deal?

The courtyards are a profusion of plants and colour. We visited a few and felt we needed to up our game in the garden department!