24 hours in Baena, lots to do in this white village of Cordoba scented with oil

The smell of the purest olive oil envelops the traveler as he approaches the beautiful Cordovan town of Baena. The smell and also an almost infinite sea of olive trees, can be reached by any of the access routes to the town from the four cardinal points. And it is that since pre-Roman times – not to mention the impulse in the agriculture of the area under Arab domination – the inhabitants of the Subbética Cordoba knew how to choose the type of olive tree that best adapted to the soil and the local climate, the variety of Picudo.

Since then it has rained a lot, or little for the taste of farmers, and today the exquisite extra virgin olive oil of Baena holds its denomination of origin. Museums, oil mills and gastronomic delights testify to the preeminence of the so-called green gold in this white village located 60 kilometers southeast of the city of Córdoba. But only from the blessed olive tree lives Baena and is offered to the visitor. Archaeological remains in the surroundings and modernist buildings and baroque churches dot a well-kept and beautiful historic center.

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9.00 Breakfast with designation of origin

The restaurant El primero de la mañana (1) (travesía de Cervantes, 6), as its name suggests, is the ideal place to start the day with a good breakfast based on juice, coffee and chapata bread with tomato, ham and sublime oil on its terrace or in the dining room of the establishment if the day has dawned cold.

10.00 Cloistered nuns in the old medina

The steep streets of the old Arab medina climb from the center of Baena to the Plaza del Ángel, where the parish of Santa María la Mayor (2), erected in the thirteenth century, seems to shelter the town from above. The temple, renovated several times, has two portals: the door of the Angel and the door of Forgiveness, in Plateresque style of the XVI. It is also of the same period and style the grille next to the main nave. The embossed silver monstrance and the Gothic stone image of the Virgen de la Antigua are two jewels that it keeps inside.

Adjacent to Santa María, it is very interesting the solemn chapel of the cloistered convent Madre de Dios (3), where through some bars you can glimpse the nuns praying. On the large esplanade that opens in front of the convent, the castle (4), unfortunately restored, was taken from the Arabs by the soldiers of Ferdinand III of Castile in 1241.

12.00 Iberians and Romans

If our stay in Baena coincides on Saturday or Sunday, the archaeological site of Torreparedones (5), about 18 kilometers north of the town, opens its doors until one in the afternoon. Remains of the ancestral Tartessian culture, the Iberian sanctuary and the forum and baths of the Roman Ebora Cerealis mentioned by Pliny the Elder guide the visitor on a wonderful journey through the oldest history of the Cordoban Subbética.

Archaeological site of Torreparedones, about 18 kilometers north of Baena (Córdoba). Jose Lucas (Alamy)

13.00 Visits in the center

Back in the village, the attractive and wide Plaza de la Constitución is the vital center of the town and around it are concentrated some of the most notable buildings. Perhaps the main one is the Casa del Monte (6), with a baroque masonry façade of the eighteenth century in which a beautiful tile humiliation with the image of the Sacred Heart stands out. Today it houses offices of the Administration and before it was Casa del Cabildo, inn and even a butcher shop. In an angle of the square stands the Town Hall (7) in a beautiful modern building of good invoice that earned him the New Plant Work Award of the Andalusian College of Architects. And between both monuments stand the Teatro Liceo (8) and the Casino (9), from the early twentieth century and where it is worth having a drink in its well-kept Andalusian patio.

The Monument to the Jew (10), in front of the Town Hall, is not a tribute to the Jews who lived here in the past, but to those brotherhoods of black-tailed and white-tailed —according to the horsehair that adorns their hooves—, protagonists with their drums of the ceremonious Holy Week of Baena.

14.30 Flamenquín de rabo de toro

At lunchtime you can opt for tapas or rations in the wonderful Peña Flamenca Baenense (11) (Laureano Fernández Martos, 3), lively and with interesting photos of artists on its walls. Another option is a more forceful meal at the Mesón Casa del Monte (12), under the arcades in the Plaza de la Constitución, where you can try excellent aubergines with salmorejo, cod au gratin, flamenquín de rabo de toro or fried chopitos. Also salads, "seasoned, of course, with Baena oil, which if not in the denomination of origin pull us by the ears," says José Luis Rojano, owner of the restaurant.

16.30 Iberian lions and Visigothic crosses

The Casa de la Tercia, another eighteenth-century building, an old grain and oil warehouse two steps from the square, houses the Historical and Archaeological Museum (13) (Santo Domingo Henares, 5), an essential visit before touring the milestones of the rich ancient history of the region. Its rooms show prehistoric tools, impressive Iberian anthropomorphic and animal sculptures —including a reproduction of the Lioness of Baena, currently in the National Archaeological Museum (MAN) in Madrid— and remains from the Roman period —such as a superb marble head by Octavio Augusto—, all from the nearby site of Torreparedones.

Replica of the Chrismón de Baena, a valuable Visigothic cross of molten metal stolen from its Historical and Archaeological Museum in 1993. Carlos Sanchez Pereyra (THE IMAGE BANK / GETTY IMAGES)

In addition, do not miss the Visigothic funeral jars, the remains of capitals and ceramics of the Muslim Bayana or the reproduction of the Chrismón de Baena (14), a valuable Visigothic cross of molten metal stolen in this museum in 1993 and which is also reproduced in the Plaza Marinalba.

17.30 The world of oil

An old oil mill with its mill preserved almost intact and that visitors can see in operation today houses the Museum of Olive Groves and Oil (15), in the heart of Baena. An experience that brings the universe of the fruit of the olive trees closer through the five senses. In addition, it is interesting to delve into the green gold in the Núñez de Prado oil mill (Cardenal Herránz Casado, 9) and admire the cellar of jars of the eighteenth century.

Jars of olive oil at the Núñez de Prado oil mill. Bildagentur-online / Moreno / Alamy

Baena is, therefore, a delight for the palate and a good address to acquire local delicacies – pestiños, roscos de vino, soles, rolls, Iberian – and the star product, Baena oil of different qualities, is the Charcutería Gourmet Salas (16) (Amador de los Ríos, 19). It is reached in a walk through the streets of the center between houses of pristine façade.

21.00 A nearby excursion

At dinner time a good idea is to take the opportunity to get to know a beautiful village, and only 11 kilometers south of Baena: Zuheros (17), a handful of streets of immaculate white declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 2003 and member of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain. Los Palancos steakhouse serves Andalusian cuisine and portions. And to end a day of such beauty, nothing like a gin and tonic on its terrace before the impressive bastion of the Arab castle erected on the rock.

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