Baeza is situated over vast acres of olive trees between the Guadalquivir and its main tributary the Guadalimar. This is the river that passes Seville and enters the ocean just a few miles north of Rota. Its settlement began in the Bronze Age and then fully established during Roman times with the wall and castle. One of the Moorish Taifa kingdoms used Baeza as its capital. The 15th and 17th centuries were the peak of its economic prosperity because of agriculture and the start of the University of Baeza. Olive oil is still king of the economy with the Jaén province. The twin arches Gate of Jaén and Villalar Arch are remains from the walled enclosure that protected the town during the Moorish occupation. Within this same plaza as the arches is the Santa Maria Fountain built in the 16th century. The spouts are lions, but some of the heads have broken off leaving it to look like the spout is coming out the back side of the lion. The very simple Church of the Santa Cruz is an example of the Andalusian romantic style from the 13th century. It was built shortly after the Christian conquest. The very ornate front of the University of Andalusia is the Jabalquinto Palace which is of the Flemish Gothic architectural style built during the late 15th century. I love to see all this history in one place. We also had the opportunity to see a olive mill showing all the historical methods of harvesting the oil. It was pretty much a diversity of crushing the ground paste using various combinations of simple machines such as levers, screws, wheel, pulleys, and wedges. Seeing such a huge area covered by just olive trees does make me wonder what would happen if some olive tree disease came through.
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