We had a slow start to the day as we had decided to visit the Castillo de Santa Catalina first. This is part of the same complex as the parador, so we just strolled up the hill.
We got to the castle for the 10 o’clock opening time. The lady at the door told us that the guy who had the authority to let us in was not there yet and advised us to come back at about 10:15 . How very Spanish!! This turned out perfectly as we walked along the path to the viewing point with the cross (La Cruz) and saw some really cute wild deer on the hill.
The castle itself was well worth a visit. There were amazing views all around with olive trees stretching as far as the eye could see. The history was interesting as it had originally been a moorish fortress overlooking the city of Yayyan (moorish for crossroads). The city was under moorish rule from 711. In 1246 on the site of the castle, The Pact of Jaén was signed – this was an agreement between the King of Castile, Ferdinand III, and the first Nasrid king of Granada, Alhamar. The Pact of Jaén served to fix the borders between the two kingdoms, which remained (almost) intact until the arrival of the Catholic Monarchs, two and a half centuries later in 1492. Later during the Peninsular War Napoleon used the castle as barracks for the French troops. In 1808 the Spanish eventually defeated the French in the battle of Bailén nearby. The French destroyed much of the castle interior when they withdrew but the outer structure is conserved in good condition. Before we set off to Jaén town we did have a sneaky cup of tea in the van…. and yes it was raining.
After the castle visit, we decided to park halfway down the hill and then walk into the city. The walk from the car park to the cathedral was 25 minutes and we saw lots of details that we would otherwise have missed. The contrast between the cathedral Square here and in Segovia was really notable. Although this is considered a tourist city, it attracts way less visitors than the other Andalusian cities like Seville, Córdoba and Granada. In the square in Segovia there were literally hundreds of tourists vying for photos whereas here there was a small group of Spanish holding a demo for retirement rights! There were no other tourists in sight. We had a lovely coffee in a bar opposite the cathedral with some good local banter. The TV was showing the procession in central London at the time for VE day.
We then visited the cathedral, which was the 5th iteration of the construction on the site. It started as a mosque, was reconsecrated and rebuilt several times until the 16th century when building of the current renaissance style cathedral began. In 2012 it was added to the Unesco world heritage site list as it is considered a prominent example of renaissance architecture. We went to the upper galleries where you could get fantastic external views and a birdseye view of the inside of cathedral below.
There really was a huge amount to see in the cathedral, so here is a small selection of what was there.
Two standout paintings in the side chapels of cathedral itself were the following:
The second painting is of king Ferdinand 3rd. (King during the reconquest)The crown requested that the king be honoured in the cathedral after his canonisation. The painting San Fernando (1673) by the Sevillian Valdés Leal, one of the most renowned painters of the time, shows various moorish objects in the foreground , symbolising the king’s victory in claiming Jaén. You can see the Santa Catalina ridge in the background of the painting.
Martirio de San Sebastián (1663) – a good example of chiarobscuro from the Jaén painter Sebastián Martínez Domedel – he was the second artist from the city to be court painter, a role formerly held by Velázquez.
Other points of interest were the organ, which was taken apart at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and then subsequently reconstructed and the carved choir seats – they make up one of the largest and most intricate choirs in Spain.
There was a permanent sacred art exhibition in the vault with paintings, carvings, ecclesiastical robes and silverware dating back to the 16th century. There was also a temporary exhibition called ‘The mystery man’ with items ancient and modern depicting images of Jesus through history including many borrowed from other collections – there was even a Roman mosaic from as far afield as Dorset! The exhibition started in Salamanca in 2023 and is touring five continents.
There was also this quite spooky video playing which I am guessing is linked to the shroud that waswrapped around Jesus and later became known as the Turin Shroud,
We then sat down in the Plaza Santa Maria in front of the cathedral to decide where to go for our late lunch. We had noticed a place as we strolled down the hill which looked very appealing. It was called Peña Flamenco Jaén, it hosted flamenco events, the food looked pretty authentic and we liked the look of the interior. We didn’t find anything else more tempting so wandered back there. We really loved it as there was a huge Spanish family lunching inside – always a good sign – loads of photos of people and events on the walls, a nice little stage in the corner for flamenco performances and beautiful tile work all around the walls. We had the best Tapas that we had had for a long time, starting with an olive oil tasting of three regional olive oils with bread. This was then accompanied with black pudding (morcilla) with pine nuts
Gilda – skewers of anchovy, olive and peppers and finally tuna marinated in orange juice. It was all really delicious, the staff were very friendly and there was lovely flamenco music playing in the background – Ben would approve. 😃
We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling, researching, planning and writing the blog before going down to the bar for a snack. After some olive and caper croquettes and deep-fried battered aubergine, we rounded off the day with a beautiful sunset.
