A ruined town inside of a grand fortress, a castle overlooking a town, and a UNESCO World Heritage city, explore the province of Jaén.
Because my brain is insane, I couldn’t just go straight from Granada to Cordoba. I had to explore the space between. I settled on a ruined castle and a couple of small cities. I absolutely fell in love with the castle in Alcalá de Real, a bit northwest of Granada. I spent so much time there I only had time to really see the castle in Jaén, before I made my way to the cute town of Baeza, which was completely out of the way. It was adorable and worth it.
Alcalá de Real was the only destination I went to that day that was actually on the way to Cordoba. I didn’t really explore the town because I spent way too much time at its castle. The Castillo de Alcalá de Real (a.k.a. Fortaleza de La Mota) is a massive, ruined fortress on top of a hill overlooking town. It wasn’t just a fortress though, there was an entire community built between its walls. It was built by the Moors between the 13th and 14th centuries. A lower city below the hill joined the upper city after the conquest of Granada in 1492. The upper city inside of the fortress existed, until Napoleon set it on fire in 1812 which caused the upper city to be abandoned. Napoleon was kind of a jerk. Even in its ruined state, the castle is awesome and a lot bigger than I thought it would be.
The main entrance to the castle dates from the Renaissance.
And another gate.
Every inch of space inside of the fortress was used. There were even buildings on the ramp up to the top.
The ruins of Santa Domingo de Silos down the hill, right next to the ruined suburbs. It was once surrounded by fortifications as well.
And another gate leads to the top level of the fortress.
Ruins of houses leading up to the castle keep.
Not sure what this room was used for, but it had a drain running through it. The original pavement is still there.
Possibly a cellar or something with very decorative arches.
The only building that really still remains up here is the former Abbey Church.
Wine storage at a former tavern.
Fortress walls and the keep. You can see the top of the first entrance gate on the bottom right.
This house had a decent sized courtyard.
Entering the keep.
A little fortress inside of a bigger fortress.
Yep, this site is huge. I was not expecting an entire town on the inside.
A cobblestone street.
The central keep.
A very creepy icehouse. Snow would be put in here in the winter and it would be used to keep food cold throughout the year.
This house had a basement.
This house had a nice little patio.
Because I spent like at least three hours in Alcala de Real, I really only had time to see the castle in Jaen. I never ended up exploring the rest of Jaen like I had planned.
The Castillo de Santa Catalina is also built high up on a hill overlooking the city of Jaén. The approach to the castle is a bit interesting. You have to drive past a fancy hotel built where the western side of the castle was. The Parador of Jaen looks older than it is, but they did destroy a bunch of the castle to build it. You have to drive down a cobblestone drive past the parador and find parking not reserved for the parador. I lucked out but that was annoying. This castle was also built by the Moors but dates earlier to the 8th century, the time of the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The parador destroyed much of the Moorish castle. What we see today is a 13th century castle with renovations.
The Castillo de Santa Catalina isn’t the most exciting castle in the world, but it does have some impressive walls.
Not much remains of many of the buildings that once existed inside of the castle.
You can walk around most of the castle walls.
The towers from the first picture.
The Cross of the Castillo de Santa Catalina.
I’ll admit. The dungeons were pretty cool.
Yeah….no thank you.
Archway between two of the castle towers. The path leads to that random cross.
Oh, look. There is that cathedral I didn’t have time to see.
Visiting Baeza was a bit of a last-minute decision, but I’m glad I did. Baeza has some of the best-preserved Italian Renaissance buildings in all of Spain. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I wanted to see firsthand how they got that title. Honestly, Baeza was really lovely.
I found parking near this cool double archway.
It’s weird to see Italian Renaissance buildings in Spain.
I’m a big fan of this building, except for the windows. Those windows should not exist.
Random Renaissance dude.
Stone and plaster buildings.
Baeza’s town hall.
This building is a bit interesting.
Santa Cruz. Now heading into an even older part of town.
That’s quite a facade. The Palacio de Jabalquinto.
The Catedral de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora de Baeza. Or simply the Cathedral of Baeza.
Very cute.
The alley behind the church is adorable.
Another cute street.
Alcalá de Real, Jaén, and Baeza are nice towns with lots to see. I wish I had more time to explore more, but because it was New Year’s Even things closed early. Oh, well. I had a lovely day exploring castles and historic towns.
Check out my next update where I wander the patio city of Cordoba!
or
Start at the beginning of my travels around Spain!
