Úbeda stands on a ridge above an ocean of olive trees. In every direction, the province of Jaén rolls away in silver-green rows, millions of trees planted in geometric lines up to the horizon, and on this sea floats a town of honey-coloured stone that looks as if it had been lifted from Florence. In the sixteenth century, powerful local families who served the Spanish crown, above all Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V, poured their wealth into palaces and churches here, and the architect Andrés de Vandelvira gave them a Renaissance style of rare purity. Úbeda and its smaller neighbour Baeza were inscribed together on the UNESCO list in 2003.
The Plaza Vázquez de Molina is the heart of it: the Sacra Capilla del Salvador, built as a funerary chapel for Cobos, the Palacio de las Cadenas, now the town hall, and a row of noble façades around a long, quiet square. Walk it in the late afternoon, when the stone glows and the swifts scream overhead. The town also has a tradition of pottery, with workshops in the old potters' quarter still producing green-glazed ware.
Riding into Úbeda is a pleasure in itself. The roads across the olive country are smooth, generally quiet and full of long, flowing bends over the hills, and the views open wide on every crest. Eastward lies the Sierra de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas, Spain's largest protected area, where the riding becomes properly mountainous, with tight climbs through pine forest, deer on the road and the source of the Guadalquivir. It is one of the best motorcycling regions in Andalusia.
In summer, Jaén is brutally hot, often over forty degrees, so ride early and rest through the afternoon as the locals do. Spring and autumn are glorious. Fuel, food and lodging are plentiful in a town of thirty-five thousand. Order anything cooked in the local extra virgin olive oil, and if you are curious about the town's famous sons, the singer-songwriter Joaquín Sabina was born here, while the poet Antonio Machado taught in Baeza, a short ride away.