Historic house in Baeza
Also known as Antigua Universidad de Baeza
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
A Renaissance university building in the UNESCO old town of Baeza, founded in 1538 and one of the landmarks behind the town’s joint World Heritage listing with Ubeda. Its quiet arcaded courtyard shows off the Renaissance style Baeza is known for.
The real draw is literary. The poet Antonio Machado taught French here from 1912 to 1919, and his preserved classroom survives as the Antonio Machado Lecture Hall. The building sits on Plaza de Santa Cruz beside the Seminario San Felipe Neri, a short walk from the Jabalquinto Palace and the Baeza Cathedral.
For budget travelers it is an easy free win. Stepping into the courtyard to admire the arcades costs nothing, so it slots neatly into a free old-town walking circuit. Come in spring or autumn for milder weather and lower room rates than the brutal inland summer.
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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 at the heart of the Plaza del Populo, the square also known as the Plaza de los Leones in its honour. Four stone lions carry a central column topped by a female figure, and the carvings are widely believed to be reused Ibero-Roman pieces brought from the nearby ancient settlement of Cástulo.
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.
Working out what Baeza costs?
The whole of Baeza