Baeza
The altitude of Baeza is about 800m, so there is a viewpoint where you can enjoy gorgeous landscape of olive fields and the snow covered mountaintops of Grenada.
As you walk in the town, you can smell the olives processed in the olive mills. December is the harvest season, and after the harvest, the olives are processed into different products.
Because there is an university, there are many students. Of course, there are tourists with cameras in their hands, as well.
I came here to meet Maria, who was then in the masters course of Organic Farming.
She is born to be a nomad, like me, and very independent person, and talking to her always brings me so much inspiration. We talked about the economic situation of Spain and the current issues about agriculture.
Úbeda
Baeza and Úbeda are both registered as UNESCO World Heritage site, and Úbeda is a bit larger and a bit more modernized than Baeza.
The two towns are only 8km away from each other, and there are buses that connect the two. However, there is no public transportation inside each town.
There are almond trees in this area, and their flowers are similar to cherry blossoms.
In Andalucía, it had not rained since last May until the end of Feb, when I visited there.
Due to the serious drought of the recent years, the new irrigation system was about to be installed. The cost of raising the tree is reflected to to the price of the product. The crazy climate could push up the price of olives in the market.
Both Úbeda and Baeza have very old church, fortress, and fountain almost every block.
1 night 2 days stay is enough to visit the both towns; they are that small. However it is worth visiting.
Transportation
Malaga - Baeza
There are 2 buses of ALSA that run between Baeza and Malaga everyday; 2 buses leave Malaga in afternoon, and 2 leave Baeza in morning.
If you know which bus you want to get on and what time it leaves, you just have to show up about 1h before that time to the terminal and get the ticket.
My bus left Malaga at 14h and arrived at Baeza at 17:25. On return, it left Baeza at 10:45 and arrived at Malaga at 15:30. It took 3h30 to go and a bit less than 5h to come back, because there are more stops on the way back.
The fare was a little less than 40&euro for the round-trip.
In either direction, the bus stops about 30min at Grenada. The bus terminal of Grenada is big, and there are cafeteria, internet cafe (15min/€), and coin locker.
Baeza - Úbeda
The fare is 1.05&euro: for onw way, and it takes less than 15min.
Time table is available at the tourist office, and the bus schedule is as follows (As of Feb 2012):
Weekdays:
From Baeza To Úbeda - First bus 7:30 / Last bus 22:40
From Úbeda To Baeza - First bus 6:45 / Last bus 20:00
Weekends:
From Baeza To Úbeda - First bus 10:15 / Last bus 22:40
From Úbeda To Baeza - First bus 8:00 / Last bus 20:00
On the weekdays, there are more than 1 bus/hour. There is only one bus terminal in Baeza, and poeple come here to go to Malaga or Úbeda.