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In the land where the olive trees grow

Les Garrigues county in Lleida presents oleoturisme (olive oil tourism), offering activities based on olive oil production and the chance to see museums and attend food-based activities

The char­ac­ter of Les Gar­rigues county in Lleida province is mainly dis­tin­guished by its dry, arid soil known as el secà. As local farm­ers know well, it is no easy mat­ter cul­ti­vat­ing this soil but the ef­fort is com­pen­sated by the in­ten­sity of the flavours, tex­tures and qual­ity of its crops. Les Gar­rigues is best-known for the high qual­ity of its extra vir­gin olive oil. Olive trees have been grown there for thou­sands of years, when the Phoeni­cians and the Egyp­tians in­tro­duced them.

Yet, the ar­be­quina olive va­ri­ety –small and round, with firm flesh, pro­duc­ing a low acid­ity oil con­sid­ered to be su­pe­rior by ex­perts–wasn't in­tro­duced to Cat­alo­nia until the 18th cen­tury. At the start of the 20th cen­tury, Les Gar­rigues began to spe­cialise in grow­ing this type of olive tree, with the emer­gence of farm­ing co­op­er­a­tives.

This long tra­di­tion in grow­ing ar­be­quina trees and the olives they pro­duce has since then be­come firmly es­tab­lished, so that there is now an oleo­tur­isme route (olive oil tourism) that aims to offer added value to the tra­di­tional pur­chase of olive oil in local co­op­er­a­tives, com­mon through­out the county. In fact, in the vil­lage of Granadella, the Museu de l'Oli has re­cently opened. The venue is the only one in ex­is­tence that spe­cialises in the local olive oil-mak­ing tra­di­tion, and is part of the net­work, Museus de la Ciència i la Tècnica de Catalunya.

Dur­ing a self-guided tour, vis­i­tors can see the still in­tact oil mill that was used by this co­op­er­a­tive, which opened in 1920. Tools and equip­ment, from olive presses to de­canta­tion vats, are ac­com­pa­nied by 12 vir­tual char­ac­ters to aid un­der­stand­ing of the oil-mak­ing process. In the same vil­lage, the new Cen­tre de la Cul­tura de l'Oli de Catalunya, is a venue de­voted to gas­tron­omy match­ing, tast­ing and pre­sen­ta­tions. La Granadella also or­gan­ises re­lated ini­tia­tives, such as pedra seca (dry stone) courses and the Oleaterra pro­gramme, with con­certs in nat­ural venues that have olive oil as a gas­tro­nom­i­cal high­light.

The brand Oleo­tur­isme Gar­rigues brings to­gether of­fer­ings from the hostelry sec­tor, olive oil mills and pri­vate farm­ers. The restau­rants that have joined this ini­tia­tive cook with D.O. olive oil, pro­duc­ing dishes such as the tra­di­tional stew, cas­sola de tros, or snails ac­com­pa­nied by the tra­di­tional pà de ronyó bread.

Mean­while, other oil-re­lated ini­tia­tives in­clude Olea­Soul, which of­fers vis­i­tors a wide range of ex­pe­ri­ences that go from rus­tic break­fasts to olive pick­ing, pic­nics in the olive groves and guided tast­ing ses­sions. In all, it is a whole land and tra­di­tional way of life just wait­ing to be dis­cov­ered.

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