Susan's NGTAW Blog: A nighttime tour of Ubeda

We arrive at twilight in Ubeda, and the Vazquez de Molina Square

We walked past the Renaissance buildings to our parador, as the bus couldn't navigate the old town center

Sunday, November 3, 2019 Ubeda

Tonight, we stay in the town of Ubeda, in the province of Jaen. It is a point near the border of Granada and Castile-LaMancha on our way to Toledo and Madrid. We drove from the Alhambra and it was dusky dark when we finally arrived past 6:30 PM. The bus can’t drive near the parador, so we brought a small overnight duffle bag along with a change of clothes. We met at 7 PM for a quick tour of the town. I’m glad I did the tour, as we didn’t have time to see the town otherwise. As a town, it benefited from rich patronage of the Castilian kings during the 1600s and as a result, has a number of interesting Renaissance buildings.

Our Parador, the Palacio del Dean Ortega

Nightime view of our Parador on the left, framing the Vazquez de Molina Square

Our guide was Andrea, and he is originally from Italy. He is the director of the Sinagoga del Agua, which has been restored in the last 15 years and open for touring since 2010. Our first stop was right outside our parador, on the Plaza de Vazquez de Molina and the Capilla de El Salvador (the “church of salvation”). This chapel was built between 1536 and 1559 and is the flagship of Ubeda Renaissance architecture. It was commissioned by Francisco de los Cobos & Molina and served as his family’s funerary chapel. The architect was Vandelvira, who designed many Renaissance buildings in Spain. The chapel is still privately owned by the Seville based Medinaceli dukes, descendants of the Cobos. And of course, our parador hotel, next door to the chapel was originally the chaplain’s residence – the Palacio del Dean Ortega.

The Capilla de El Salvadore - "Church of Salvation"

Funerary urns decorate the facade, as this is a private chapel to house the remains of the family

Details of the facade

Night view of the Palacio de las Cadenas, now serving as the town hall

The church of Santa Maria de los Reales Alcazares

We next walked to the town hall, the Palacio de las Cadenas and the church of Santa Maria de los Reales Alcazares. Our walk eventually too us to the corner where a Jewish synagogue from the 1300s has been restored after is discovery during renovations for apartments about 15 years ago. After our synagogue tour, we returned to the parador for our evening dinner.