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It´s been over a year and a half since my last blog, when I returned from South America and spent a few days in Madrid. With my up and coming trip to India just round the corner, I should probably try to get back into the swing of things. So here´s hoping that it is as easy as I remember it to be.
After leaving work early on the Thursday, Javi and I headed south to a city called Lorca. You´ll be lucky to find it in any lonely planet book, as its recent fame is due only to an earthquake and their ability to pick themselves up after it.
Having found a cheap hotel online, Hotel Felix, we arrived feeling pleasantly optimistic. The hotel was nice, small but clean rooms and the restaurant looked surprisingly modern and maybe a tad expensive. Since Javi and I generally like to venture out and find the local places to eat or drink we took a stroll in search of such a place. We discovered then why this hotel had been as cheap as it was; the location. The further we walked from the hotel, the more uncomfortable we became, with many unlit roads and the only eateries being fast food joints with many dodgy looking people hanging around outside. Finally, we settled on eating in the bar next to the hotel.
I don´t remember the name, I wouldn´t particularly recommend it, the food was decent enough to eat and the bill was an easily affordable 10 euros each including drinks. A typical dish from the area, which we thought we should try, was "manitas de cerdo" or pigs feet. Never again in this life time will I order them, fatty and with no meat but on the plus side, the spicy sauce that they were served in was a great dip to soak the bread in.
Lorca was only a stopping point on the road to Cazorla, a place to spend the night so we didn´t have so long a drive on the Friday morning. This still resulted in almost a 3 hour drive along country roads before reaching the province of olives. It didn´t matter in which direction I looked whilst driving, all I could see were fields and fields of olive trees. As you can imagine, Cazorla is famous for fantastic olives, and olive oil.
When Javi and I had decided to go away for a weekend, I found an offer on www.groupon.es . Instead of paying 90 euros for an apartment in "Hotel Villa de Cazorla" we only paid 35, which included a welcome drink (a horrible glass of wine), a tapa (a delicious tuna and onion tapa) and breakfast.
Cazorla itself isn´t very big and a day in the town is more than enough. The reason to stay longer would be for the hikes in the national park, which stretches for miles. We only had the one day so we didn´t get out of the town. Must sees and dos in the town include a visit to the castle which holds the museum of popular art and customs. I was hesitant at first to enter as art is not really my thing, but once I discovered that the tour was free I jumped at the chance. The drawback was the Spanish guide which meant I didn´t follow everything that she said but I got the gist of most of it and even if you don´t speak Spanish, the views from the top of the tower are spectacular once you´ve climbed the big ass steps.
Another must do in the town is the guided tour along the "Rio Cerezuelo." This starts in the Iglesia Santamaría which you´ll find in the main square and costs 2 euros each. Once again the tour was in Spanish, but I think because I´m with a Spaniard they don´t stop to think that maybe I don´t understand everything. It takes you on a trip under the ruined church along the river. Stupidly they built a church on top of a river and then wondered why when it flooded it didn´t survive. However, the tour is interesting and probably even more so in English and cool to see. Also going up the tower in the church is worth the climb (even more so since it´s free) to look down on the plaza.
The main square in any town is normally a tourist attraction, and therefore they hike the prices up, this is not the case here, at least not in March. A 3 course meal for 10 euros, or a beer and a free tapa for only 1.50, there is no point in trying to look further for something better. We ate lunch in one of these bars, I´m sure they are all very similar and all of the same good quality that we had at ours. We didn´t have dinner in the square, but ventured a few steps more to "Leonard" a slightly pricier restaurant but with fantastic wine and unbelievably strong olive oil. Since this is the olive area, almost everything is served with oil, including the typical pate from the area. I was rather enjoying the starter until the waiter came over and destroyed it by pouring a mountain of oil over it, as if it didn´t have enough already.
Another day, another city, this time in the capital of the province, Jaén. The main reason for our weekend away was Javi and I´s colleagues bought us a night in a Parador as a wedding gift. For those who don´t know, a Parador is a hotel but in places that have been renovated from old buildings. The Parador in Jaén is situated in the Castle of Santa Catalina which is a must see in the city even if you aren´t staying there. Now this isn´t the usual type of place that Javi and I would stay in, with four stars and a look of elegance it was a welcome change of pace and a treat for us. I don´t know, or want to know how much the pack for a night and dinner in this hotel was, but it is a far cry from the hostels of South America that´s for sure. We had our own personal balcony with views for miles of the olive fields and surrounding mountains, and with our suitcases being taken to our room for us, made it a bit of a dream-like place for me.
To visit the castle on foot would be a long walk; we left the car at the top and took a taxi down (10 euros) when we wanted to visit the town and another taxi up later on that night. Apart from the castle, there are many historical sites of interest in the city itself. The cathedral would be the most famous and a gorgeous looking building from the outside. The five euro entrance fee isn´t steep in my opinion, and includes an audio guide. Once again the problem was the lack of English, I would have had to wait longer to get an audio guide in English which we didn´t want to do. Serves me right really since it was all about the structure of the building and the pictures and saints, vocabulary that even Javi said was difficult to follow if you aren´t an expert in those things or maybe he was just trying to make me feel better. This building was still impressive and I´m glad we went in.
Many other buildings in the old town should be walked past as you meander down the streets, a recommendation from the hotel was the Arab baths, but truthfully both Javi and I were unimpressed by the building and we were unable to enter due to it being closed. Unlike in Cazorla, the main square here, or any main street with restaurants and bars have increased their prices to rip off the unaware. We stopped for a beer in a place just like this, although the beer still came with a free tapa the prices of the meals were at least 3 or 4 euros more expensive than where we finally ended up eating. If looking for somewhere on a tighter budget head down "Cuatro Torres" near the "San Ildefonso Church" where we ate well and cheaper than in the normal tourist traps. We ate in "Sanantorio" but there were plenty to choose from on this little side street.
Dinner at the hotel was a different story. Price wasn´t the issue with this prepaid meal, and we dressed for the occasion. A fancy meal to match the fancy hotel but with still a wide variety of food to choose from on the menu and all drinks included. It was a perfect wedding present and we´re very lucky to have been given the pack.
A long curvy drive home Sunday morning after a small mountain of food for breakfast ended our romantic getaway weekend in the province of Jaén.
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