Blanca & Ian's Travels

Spain

Trip Report - June 2005

Searching for Moors

Madrid & Andalusia

Almagro, Jaén, Granada, Sevilla, Nerja, Madrid

Part 2 - Jaén

The Parador of Jaén

Parador de Jaén    159€ Superior Dbl w/ balcony     http://www.parador.es/

The Parador is adjacent to the 8th Century Moorish castle which was improved into the Castillo de Santa Catalina in the 13th Century.   Towering over the plain it is easy to see why they felt it was easily defensible.  The Parador has been built beside the castle on the ridge & it was designed to blend in with it architecturally. The view north is of the town of Jaén below & endless miles of olive groves.  The other side views the Sierra Almaden & Sierra de Alta Coloma mountains + endless miles of olive groves.  There is a large sitting room between the bar & the restaurant with fabulous with tapestries & paintings etc.  Very atmospheric.  

This Parador was not luxurious but very nice overall.  Our room had twins beds (of course) but the view from its balcony was stunning.
 

Day 3 Tuesday - Almagro to Jaén

We woke up somewhat hung-over but the great Parador breakfast cured it (lots of fruit).  We left Almagro at 10:30.  The drive went very well except for some passenger jitters as we were going through the pass over the Sierra de San Andre mountains north of La Carolina.  A good multi-lane highway & we made it in under 2 hours. No big deal.

On arrival in Jaén, we got a little lost in the round-a-bouts, but after finding the Parador signs, we followed the road up to the fort on the hill.  When the porter showed us our room, it appeared dark & dreary until he threw open the balcony doors.  The view was incredible with a spectacular view south of mountains with olive groves stretching to & over the foothills.  A big WOW.

We spent a couple of hours by the pool with its amazing vistas.  Reminiscent of Southern California certainly.  When we pulled into town, we saw some slummy-looking high-rises & I remarked that even the people in the slums had great views.  Lunch was at the Parador (17€ each again).  I had the bread thingie (Las Migas del IV centenario - in the middle of the menu) & B had endives with mushrooms, vegetables & ham.  Then more pool lounging & a siesta. 

Dinner at Parador - Beef Tenderloin which was really veal with figs & apricots & prunes - 17€ again for 3 courses.  Very good.  Wine was Valduero Reserva 1998 for 21€.
 

Day 4 Wednesday - Jaén continued . . . 

Our laziness continued & we had a late start at 8:40 although I got up before dawn & read on the balcony & absorbed its amazing views.  Breakfast buffet at hotel (11 ??€s).  We checked out the Castle a bit (Arab fortress) before driving down the hill to Jaén.

Jaén is a bustling town with very busy narrow streets that are surprisingly hilly.  It wasn't a whole lot of fun driving but we finally did find a public parking lot & the attendant was very insistent (in incomprehensible Spanish) that we know where it is.  I showed him I had it marked on my map.  He was very nice & was just trying to make sure that we knew how to get back to rescue our car.  We walked the downtown core & stopped at the major site - the Cathedral - to cool down & rest our legs.  The Chapels inside the Cathedral had coin deposits which could make various objects light up. Yeah, really.  Pretty hokey.

We did some light shopping - lower UV sunscreen (so we could get a tan), Coke & olive oil at the Olive Oil Museo who happily gave us a handful of books on Jaén & the area.  The shopkeepers were friendly & very forgiving of our inability to speak Spanish.  They would write the price down.  Kind of fun.  It was very hot - again.  We set out wandered through some streets & alleys & ended up at the International Museum of Native Art, which has old Arab Baths in the basement.  You have to put your cameras in a locker - which we almost forgot when we exited (thank you Senor Attendant Man).  We bought lunch at a little pastry shop & ate in a nearby square (a triangle actually) with benches & a bit of shade.  After several hours, we found our car again (thanks to my map & the garage guy's insistence).  We went back up to the Parador for a little rest & then continued tanning & swimming at the pool.  Getting into the swing of things, we had a siesta before dinner at hotel again.

We had a drink in the hotel's great room with its vaulted ceiling pre-dinner - ouch, 11€ for 2 mixed drinks.  We'll stick to wine or Sangria in public & duty-free hard stuff in our room at day's end I think . . .

For dinner, B had asparagus soup with poached egg + leg of kid. I had salad + venison. + Gran Vos Viña del Veno Reserva 2000.  Great wines so far but of course, it is pretty hard to have bad wine in Spain.
 

Proceed to Part 3 - Granada