A Guided Tour of Úbeda, Spain trevorhuxham.com

I show you around this village in southern Spain that is a World Heritage Site for Renaissance architecture.

So far, I’ve written an homage to Úbeda—the city where I lived for eight months while teaching English in southern Spain—as well as a post outlining my favorite restaurants in town. To conclude Úbeda Week on the blog, I’d like to present a (free!) guided tour of this really nice village I once called home. Famous for its Renaissance architecture, its tradition of pottery that dates back to Moorish times, and its bottles overflowing with high-quality olive oil, Úbeda is a small city with plenty to keep you occupied.

Start at the bus station (estación de autobuses) in the west part of town and walk due east on the main drag, Avenida Cristo Rey, which quickly becomes Calle Obispo Cobos. Look to the north (your left), and gaze up at the Hospital de Santiago. Finished in 1575, this former hospital (surprise, surprise) is the first work on our itinerary by Andrés de Vandelvira, a Spanish architect who single-handedly brought the Italian Renaissance to southern Spain. Two huge towers define the space on the east and the west, and behind the central patio is a soaring chapel that is now used for the town’s musical concerts. Úbeda’s bullring is directly to the south, hidden by a residential block.