Jaen City

Jaen City is the capital of Jaen Province and is just a ten minute drive from where we live in Spain. The city only has a population of just over 100,000 but appears to be a large modern university town as there seem to be students everywhere. There are lots of historical buildings and ruins and the Cathedral, which is a massive building as you can see from the picture appears to dominate the city. We couldn't find it - at street level you don't notice the cathedral until you are almost upon it, but it is impressive and extremely beautiful both inside and out.
We explored the lanes and alleys around the cathedral and discovered wonderful cafe bars with live music, which was enjoyable even though we couldn't understand a word.
This is a good city in which to buy furniture, electrical goods and all other kinds of shopping as there is an excellent selection of large department stores, supermarkets, small shops and market places.

Overlooking jaen is the castle, which sits on top of the hill above the town. We have yet to visit it but know that it was turned into a Parador (hotel) some years ago.

Angela's first impression of Jaen was one of disappointment as she didn't really like the look of the place. I know that the reason for this was that we had visited on a Sunday when everything is closed, so she couldn't look in the shops. We have been back a few times now and she now really likes Jaen, as there are shops of all sizes on virtually every street.

We like the fact that although we stay in the countryside we are only a few minutes away from a large city with every facility you could hope for. There is also an excellent bus and rail service in Jaen where you can travel all over Spain relatively cheaply compared to the U.K. and the public transport runs on time in Spain.