Historic Centre of Cordoba and Baeza

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Historic Centre of Cordoba

   Córdoba was once the biggest city in Europe, or so people say, and it is easy to believe when you stand inside the Mezquita. The great mosque was begun in 785 by Abd al-Rahman I, on the site of a Visigothic church, and it grew over two centuries until it held a forest of columns, hundreds of them, in red-and-white striped arches that seem to run on forever. In the sixteenth century a Christian cathedral was built in the middle of it, a clumsy and strangely moving collision of two worlds, and the emperor who approved it is said to have regretted it when he saw the result.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of Cordoba write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Historic Centre of Cordoba is where the day begins. Next is Cueva del Encajero.

2. 2. Cueva del Encajero

   Olives, and then more olives. Riding west out of Jaén towards Torredonjimeno you cross one of the most single-minded agricultural landscapes in Europe, a rolling grid of grey-green trees running over every hill to the horizon, broken only by white farmhouses and the occasional oil mill. Somewhere among these low hills near Villardompardo, the Cueva del Encajero is a small rock shelter with traces of prehistoric painting, one of the many scattered sites that make up the World Heritage listing of rock art in Spain's Mediterranean basin.

   Read the complete Cueva del Encajero write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cueva del Encajero comes up about 91 km into the recorded legs. Next is Baeza.

3. 3. Baeza

   Baeza is a town of honey-coloured stone set on a ridge above a sea of olive trees. From its edge, the view drops over the Guadalquivir valley to the dark line of the Sierra Mágina, and in every direction the hills are covered with orderly rows of olives, millions of them, the source of more olive oil than almost anywhere on earth. The town's Renaissance palaces, churches and squares, together with those of neighbouring Úbeda, make up a World Heritage site.

   Read the complete Baeza write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Baeza. Next is back through Cueva del Encajero.

4. 4. back through Cueva del Encajero

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cueva del Encajero write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Cueva del Encajero, late in the day. Next is Historic Centre of Cordoba.

5. 5. Historic Centre of Cordoba

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of Cordoba write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Historic Centre of Cordoba. That is the ride.