Through the streets of Baeza you can breathe the air of other times
A World Heritage Site since 2003, the historic center of baeza it's all a walk through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance . Also a trip to the heart of the gastronomy of Jaen . Away from mass tourism, baeza wait patiently with the tranquility of any Andalusian town.
It is inland, more than 200 kilometers from the beach, but Baeza has a promenade . Its about Walk of the Walls, surrounding the southeast of the city.
Its viewpoints offer panoramic views of an ocean that is not made of water, but of oil . Are million olive trees that extend to infinity that fills with mist with the arrival of autumn.
An abyss that at dusk reflects a dark landscape with just a few lights on the horizon: they resemble ships in the shape of towns, anchored for centuries in a sea of land. A place where seagulls are partridges, sailors, countrymen and, in their nets, the catch of the day is shaped like olives.
The sea of olive trees in Baeza
Is he Walk of the Walls a strange place, almost addictive. From it arise narrow streets that enter the historic center of Baeza, through which strolling has something of a sensory experience. The silence is thunderous beyond the wind and the fluttering of some birds. And the stone walls slide towards a labyrinth that, in the surroundings of Cathedral, it becomes a passageway to another era.
Without the streetlights dimly illuminating some corners and the excellent general cleanliness, the picture could perfectly belong to some time in the 16th century . Perhaps for all this it was declared World Heritage Site in 2003.
Through the alleys of Baeza
"It is a place with a very special charm, where anyone can enjoy the medieval framework," he explains. Peppa Moreno , who chose precisely a corner of this labyrinth, in the high street , to set up his pottery workshop. The only one in town.
art historian , her work drifted towards ceramics after going through the Granada School of Arts . What she first was a hobby, later she became her profession.
She spent all of 2014 researching the forms and uses of ceramics that was made in Baeza in the XVII century with the help of archaeologists, private collectors and pieces from the region's museums.
"At the end of the year, after studying the shapes and getting the original blue of that time, we opened it to the public," says Moreno, in whose studio you can find a good catalog of pieces. The same jugs, cups, alcuzas, jugs, burners, plates, mortars or basins that were used 400 years ago.
Detail of Pepa Moreno pottery
Very close, across the Archdeacon's Square , you quickly get to the moon gate, the entrance through which today you access the Cathedral of Baeza. It was built on an old mosque and has numerous architectural transformations that make it a Gothic-style building and show the world a Renaissance façade.
It overlooks the Plaza de Santa María , where it forms a single space next to the High Town Halls (XV century) , the source of Santa Maria (16th century) and San Felipe Neri Seminary (XVII century) . Among them, the children hit balls on walls that were already there when Michelangelo and Da Vinci amazed the world.
Below is the Palace of Jabalquinto . Its incredible façade shows an Elizabethan Gothic style based on diamond points, shields and nails, while inside there is a beautiful Renaissance courtyard and a Baroque staircase. The building today houses the International University of Andalusia (UNIA), which attracts people from all over the world to study in its excellent master's degrees and postgraduate studies.
The classes overlook a small square where a plaque recalls the couplet that says that our lives are the rivers that flow into the sea. At his side she passes almost unnoticed, shy, the church of Santa Cruz , an absolute rarity in the south. As the Christian conquest was late in Andalusia, there are hardly any Romanesque buildings in the region and this one, built in the 13th century, is the best preserved in the entire community.
Santa Maria Square
Baeza's heritage gives for everything you want . To spend hours and even days visiting each place in detail or simply to open your eyes and wander aimlessly.
Be that as it may, you always have to walk down Romanones street to the old butcher shops, public notaries, the fountain of the lions and the arch of Villalar.
All of this is in the Populo Square, next to Walk of the Constitution . From there, in a few minutes you can visit the town hall building and the former house of Antonio Machado, the incredible ruins of the convent of San Francisco and its elegant auditorium or the small food market, full of local products.
Palace of Jabalquinto
"Despite being so small, Baeza is spectacular ", bill Manuel Bald, that he knows all the secrets of the town where he was born. At the age of 15, he opened a bar with his brother and, since then, he has done practically everything.
She has run clubs where she played music with her back to the public "out of shame", she has set up electronic music festivals, organized numerous concerts and traveled around the world: her friends say that once she traveled to Thailand for ten days and returned after three months. His penultimate project has been to restore a palace from the end of the 16th century, the ** Palacio de Gallego **, which was on its way to being a cocktail bar but has finally become the most attractive restaurant in the town. .
In its almost 700 square meters it has a beautiful patio where the tower of the Cathedral looks out curiously. Or maybe envy: the terrace has a pool, barbecue and a huge cider apple tree that leans on a bar where Manuel once prepared a delicious mojito.
Two other rooms in the house house a small informal lounge and a beautiful and tiny cellar with 180 references of quality wines. But the star of the house is a dining room dominated by a spectacular recently restored 17th century coffered ceiling.
A process in which Calvo took the opportunity to add a medieval Bestiary, as well as some lyrics taken from the more than 6,000 records that he keeps in his office. "They are from songs by Los Planetas, Lagartija Nick or Lori Meyers, but also some phrases that have secret meanings" cryptically adds the man from Baez, who never stops looking to the future: he has recently acquired the house next to the palace with the idea of creating accommodation with several suites.
Once at the table, the house specialty is the kitchen with olive wood embers , which provides unique aromas to the different cuts of meat that they work with, to the local vegetables or to the exquisite Carril clams.
His most luminous dish are the eggs with truffle, Iberian ham and white shrimp, served on a parmentier of potatoes and a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil of the picual variety. The best thing is to let Manuel carve the dish himself, and then savor it with the excellent chardonnay that they serve as the house wine. "Whoever tries them dreams of them," says the restaurateur, who recommends the Roquefort mille-feuille with arbequina oil and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
This patio is the envy of Baeza (and part of the world)
Next to him is the Moon Gate Hotel (a perfect four-star to rest and try the cuisine of its La Pintada restaurant) and, a little further, the tavern Cinnamon Stick , branch of the restaurant of the same name in Linares. It is a nice place -with an interior room and an exterior patio with views of the cathedral- where the Jaén product is the base.
Among the tapas that accompany the drink you can order delicious snacks like ochío (oil bread with paprika typical of the area) daggerboard loin stuffing, roasted peppers and aioli, a curry burger or a boar's head on atao garlic (without fear, it is a sausage on a sauce of garlic, oil and potato).
Game meats and vegetables from the Jaén garden complete a menu where you have to try, yes or yes, the crunchy pig's face with honey and curry: although it seems strange to eat the face of a pig, its taste invites you to regret: specifically, not to have enjoyed its incredible flavor before.
Luckily, Baeza is full of bars that are well worth a visit. Burladero or the tavern The Archdeacon are two good examples, as is The barbershop , a space with industrial decoration where three Baezanos made a conversation come true in 2016 that had been repeated since their youth.
"We always wanted to set up something like this and, finally, the opportunity arose", explains one of the partners, Juan Carlos Grill , which does not define the establishment as a bar, restaurant or tavern: "**It's a bit of everything", adds the also Supersubmarina drummer. **
Boar's Head Tapa in Cinnamon Sticks
They have a barbecue in the patio that gives the common touch of ember to many of their dishes such as the assortment of Iberian pork made up of prey, lizard and secret or the deer meat skewer. There are also portions of local products with oriental touches and a room where, from time to time, they organize concerts.
Another interesting place is Baeza Corner , where Mari Carmen Cruz runs a kitchen from which she has reinvented some of the city's classic tapas. It is a reference for its neighbors, which is always a good trail for visitors to follow.
To finish the gastronomic route, nothing like going through Juanito's house , the only restaurant with a Sun Repsol in Baeza . Synonymous with tradition, its flavors have been rescued from local history based on products one hundred percent from Jaén. This family business, which is also a hotel, derives from what Luisa Martinez and Juan Salcedo They ran between the 50s and 70s of the last century in the center of the city.
Today it is a culinary temple through which characters such as Rafael Alberti, Andres Segovia, Francisco Ayala, Santiago Carrillo, and Miguel Rios. and many more who have left their mark on that wonder that is their signature book.
The delicious virolos of Baeza
Juanito's house clings to tradition: its kitchens have inherited recipes from the 19th century that are now strictly adhered to. "Even today we continue to make some dishes in the same way that my great-great-grandmother used to do," says Juan Luis Salcedo, head of the dining room. His brother Peter Salcedo is he manager of a kitchen where, sometimes, you can still see Luisa - at 87 years old - preparing food for her staff.
In its stoves they cook pig trotters, artichokes, marinades, oxtail, partridge pâté, pigeon... " The entire menu is based on traditional, natural products. there are no artifices ", highlights Salcedo, who emphasizes that everything is cooked with extra virgin olive oil obtained in the 190 hectares of olive trees that the family owns and elaborated in its own oil mill, Viana oils . The third brother, Damián Salcedo, takes care of her.
In the oil press the three brothers pay homage to their parents every year bottling 4,000 bottles of extra virgin olive oil of some olives that are collected, in a single day, in three different farms.
The creative family of the Virolos
It's called Juanito y Luisa and, beyond its sentimental value, it stands out as one of the best oils in Jaén. And that in the province there are a few, as can be seen in The House of Oil , which takes you back to the center of Baeza to get lost among brands of organic oils, early harvest, Arbequina or Picual varieties... but also some delicious cornezuela olives or even cosmetics.
From its door, crossing the Plaza del Pópulo, you can see the large windows of the cafeteria ferrule , where in addition to putting on some amazing (and very cheap) breakfasts, they serve the characteristic virolos, a cake made with fine puff pastry, angel hair and icing sugar. They only make them here: they keep the recipe secret and under lock and key since 1870 . One more reason (and there are quite a few) to visit Baeza.
Oil in the mill of the Juanito restaurant