Jaén at Night

Andalusia or Andalucía?

The autonomous region of Andalusia (Andalucía in Spanish) is in the southern part of Spain. It spans from Atlantic coast in the west to the sheltered coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the east and from Málaga's Costa del Sol to the borders of Castilla – La Mancha the famous flat lands and Don Quixote windmill country. With an average of 300 plus days of sunshine a year the coastal area is an all year round destination. Not so in the inland provinces of Cordoba, Jaen and Sevilla which ha ve baking hot summers that can reach +40c and cold winters which can be 0c or less overnight. The Mezquita, Córdoba Andalusia is divided into eight provinces, each with a provincial city of the same name. Some of them are far more famous than others: Almería , Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Sevilla. The three land-locked provinces are Córdoba, Jaé n and Sevilla, the rest are coastal. Each province and city is full of culture, history, traditions, fabulous monuments and cre...

A visit to Jaén last night with hub and two sons, meant an obligatory (rare) Carrefour visit followed by another attempt to find the 1888 bar open. It wasn´t. I´m now presuming now that it´s closed for good which would be very sad after so many years and more so ´cos I didn´t get there in time.

Back of Jaén Cathedral

After popping in a renovated characterless Mesón for a beer and tapas and getting a not very inspiring anchovy and cream cheese on a slice of bread, rather boring (although hub and I had to have two as the kids just looked at them,) to the castle we went.

Jaén Cathedral & City at Night

Up the Santa Catalina hill to see Jaén come alive with twinkling lights as darkness falls is pretty magical. It was rather breezy up there in strangely hot bursts, which didn´t help my photography session.

Jaén Parador from the Walkway

Santa Catalina has a 4* Parador, castle with Visitor Centre and a huge white monumental cross at one end of the hill, said to be on the site that Ferdinand lll his sword or a cross into the ground after re-taking the city from the Moors in 1246.

Jaén´s Monumental Cross Overseeing the City

Jaén´s Monumental Cross From the Walkway

Stunning views, day or night make this a special spot and an advisable start on a visit to the city. A stroll to the cross deserves a visit to the only bar, so with deep pockets to the Parador bar it was. I got outvoted and had to take an easy chair under the 20m high vaulted ceiling in the drawing room instead of one of the pretty patios with city light views.