Jaén, Andalusia — tapas bars, Arab baths, a cathedral, and a cactus that chose the wrong day to bloom.

I had a triffic day on Wednesday visiting Jaén, apart from the fact that I forgot my camera, and the oldest tapas bar in Jaén that we were seeking was actually closed. Well, I suppose everybody is entitled to a day off, even the owners of a bar that has been in the same family since 1881. I had read about Taberna El Gorrion in a blog — Andalucia Explorer by Rachel Webb.

This was an uncommon day for me, as I typically spend time in Jaén standing in queues in official buildings sorting out paperwork, but on this occasion I was able to see the cathedral, Arab baths, and the indoor food market, as well as some fine tapas bars down windy streets that had probably been frequented by non-camera-wielding Jiennenses* since, well, 1881 onwards.

The photographs and the oldest tapas bar around will have to wait for another day. Meanwhile, whilst I was out and about, my new cactus, kindly donated by friends in my village, had developed ears and that evening decided to burst into bloom. If you want to know what a flowering triffid looks like, then see below.

Jaén, Andalusia — Beyond the Tapas Bars

Jaén is also the olive oil capital of the world — the province produces more olive oil than the entire country of Italy. The surrounding landscape is a sea of silvery-green olive groves, and the local economy and cuisine revolve entirely around this liquid gold. A day trip to Jaén, Andalusia reveals a city that tourists perpetually overlook, rushing between Granada and Córdoba. Their loss. If the olive oil story interests you, there's more on the history of olives in Spain here.

*Inhabitants of Jaén are known as Jiennenses.

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