Olive You Jaén

Have you even heard of Jaén?

If you haven’t, don’t worry, you are in good company. Jaén is a region near Córdoba in Eastern Andalucía that is commonly overlooked by both tourists and many Spaniards.

When I told my co-workers I was headed to the province of Jaén for the weekend, I got a similar response from everyone “I have never been,” and “what is there to do?”

My answer, “comeré aceitunas, por supuesto” - I will eat olives of course.

Jaén is known for the production of aceite de oliva (olive oil.) Jaén accounts for half of Andalucía’s olive oil production, a third of Spain’s, and a tenth of the entire world’s olive oil.

Although a long way to travel for olives, almost six hours, it was well worth the trip. With my friends and fantastic tour guides Natalie and Hannah, exploring the sister cities of Baeza, and Úbeda made for an incredible and memorable weekend.

As soon as I stepped off of the bus in Baeza I could smell the olives in the air. There are over 40 million olive trees covering the province of Jaén. Baeza is no exception; it is literally surrounded by seemingly endless hills of neatly lined olive groves. From the top of Baeza you can see and smell the pungent smoke coming from the olive mills in the valleys below, pressing and filtering olive oil.

Production season has just come to a close, but early on Friday morning I was able to catch a distant glance of the farmers spreading nets beneath trees and beating the last of the branches to collect olives.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that in the entire province of Jaén, whenever you order a drink (whether a Coke, a beer or wine,) you are served free tapas. Not only does this make for a cheap evening out, it is an excellent excuse to order beer after beer just to see what will come out of the kitchen next. We spent Thursday night hopping from bar to bar to take advantage of this inspired custom.

Hannah and Natalie both share my obsession for Nutella, so on Friday morning, we got off on the right foot, fueling up on Nutella on toast.

Baeza although a bit chilly, is absolutely beautiful, filled with charming plazas, and very friendly people.

Paseo de la Constitucion, the buildings are adorned with writing on the walls in bulls blood

Oldest renaissance cathedral in all of Andalucia

plaza de los leones

Hanging out with the poet Antonio Machado

After a quick pastry at the well known Martinez Café, we took a bus to Úbeda, a town recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to see more views of the mountainous olive groves. We indulged in a midday wine, and savored the handcrafted food at La Tulipa, a very cute and intimate restaurant were we ordered the menu del dia (a 3 course meal where you choose the components.)

Garlic Soup

Hand rolled mushroom croquettes

Moorish tiles surrounding the restaurant walls

Úbeda

Úbeda

Úbeda

Úbeda

Pottery with green glaze Úbeda is famous for

From Ubeda, we headed to the capital of Jaén. We spent the night ordering rounds of beers, tasting more free tapas, and dancing early into the morning at a bar with a live band, singing 80’s music in English.

We awoke early on Sunday morning to hike up to the highest point in the city of Jaén, Castilla de Santa Catalina, an old castle that is now renovated into a fancy hotel called the Parador. 

We comically found our own way up, that was definitely not the marked trail. At the top were stunning views not only of the city of Jaén and its dominant Renaissance cathedral below, but you can see well beyond the city to the mountains of the Sierra Mágina, “Mystic Range”

A bit of light stretching

Not only was I in good company all weekend long, but it was also a great treat to see a change of scenery from the flat landscape of Sevilla. I come back with the realization that I am am truly an outdoors person, and thanks to the wise words of Natalie “I am not a tourist, I am a traveler.”

I <3 Nutella cup that Hannah and Natalie gave me and a bottle of Baeza olive oil (the dark glass doesn't allow light to penetrate, making it better quality.)