World's olive oil capital — a sea of silver-green trees covering the Sierra Morena, with a Renaissance cathedral and Moorish baths
Jaén sits in the heart of Andalusia's olive oil country — the province produces more olive oil than the entire country of Greece, and from the city's hilltop castle the view stretches to an unbroken horizon of silver-green olive groves covering the Sierra Morena. The city centre is dominated by one of Spain's finest Renaissance cathedrals, begun in 1525 and completed over two centuries. Below the cathedral, an extraordinary set of 11th-century Arab baths (the largest to survive in the Iberian Peninsula) was only rediscovered in 1913 when a municipal swimming pool was being installed.
Jaén was the capital of the Moorish taifa kingdom of Jaén in the 11th century and a key city on the route between Toledo and Granada — controlling it meant controlling Andalusia. Ferdinand III of Castile took it in 1246 after a lengthy siege; King Alhamar of Granada agreed to help him besiege it, beginning the relationship between Granada and Castile that would eventually lead to the Reconquista's end in 1492. The city's Arabic name, 'Geen' (route of caravans), reflects its ancient role as a transit point on the roads between the Meseta and the Mediterranean. The Arab baths discovered in 1913…