Monument in Baeza
Also known as Lions Fountain
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
The Fuente de los Leones is the centrepiece of Baeza’s Plaza del Populo, a square so closely tied to the fountain that locals also call it the Plaza de los Leones. Four worn stone lions ring a column crowned by a female figure, and the carvings are widely held to be reused Ibero-Roman work carried in from the old settlement of Cástulo. There is nothing to pay and no gate to pass: the fountain stands in the open square and can be admired at any hour. It is one of the easiest free stops in town, set right beside the Puerta de Jaen and the Arco de Villalar on the same square. Combine it with the cathedral and the Jabalquinto Palace facade for a full afternoon of Renaissance Baeza that costs almost nothing. Pair the visit with neighbouring Ubeda, the other half of the UNESCO listing, to make a single olive-country trip stretch further.
Practical
Nearby
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
A 16th-century triumphal arch attached to the Puerta de Jaen on the Plaza del Populo, the Lions Fountain square in the heart of Baeza. It is free to see at any hour, set into the old city gate rather than fenced off as a paid monument, so it costs nothing to walk through and photograph.
A preserved classroom inside the Old University of Baeza where the poet Antonio Machado taught French between 1912 and 1919. The room is kept the way he left it, down to the wooden desks and the lectern, so it reads less like a museum exhibit and more like a working hall that the teacher just stepped out of.
The Renaissance cathedral on Plaza de Santa Maria, the dominant monument of UNESCO-listed Baeza and built over the town's former main mosque. The square out front and its exterior cost nothing to admire, so even a no-spend visit gets the best of it.
One of the few surviving Romanesque churches in Andalusia, dating to the 13th century. Most of the region's old architecture is Moorish or Renaissance, which makes this small, plain stone church a genuine rarity. It is free to enter and quiet, an easy stop while exploring the UNESCO-listed center of Baeza.
Renaissance fountain on the Plaza de Santa María in Baeza, the square that faces the Baeza Cathedral. Free to admire, built in the 16th century, and one of the most photographed corners of the old town.
A 19th-century olive oil estate on the outskirts of Baeza, home to the Museo de la Cultura del Olivo and set among the endless olive groves of Jaen province. The grounds and the old mill buildings cost nothing to look over, and the olive culture museum inside charges a low entry fee.
Working out what Baeza costs?
The whole of Baeza