Úbeda: Olives and a Synagogue

Úbeda is not a place that was ever on my radar when I was planning my trip to Spain. If I weren’t on this tour with OAT, I never would have gone to Úbeda.

It turns out that it was a highlight of this trip for one special reason: the Sinagoga del Agua.

We also visited a nearby olive grove and factory, and I’ll tell you a little about that as well. But first…

Power Outage

Yesterday there was a massive power outage that affected pretty much all of Spain and Portugal. I was very lucky that the timing of the blackout didn’t significantly affect my activities. Here’s my story.

Beforehand

We arrived in Toledo on Sunday afternoon. On Monday the group had an excursion to Madrid, but since I am going there on my own next week, I decided not to go and to spend the day in Toledo.

I hit a few sights yesterday morning and at 11:30 I went to visit the Cathedral. At 12:30 I was in the sacristy gazing at El Greco’s masterwork, The Disrobing of Christ.

I had just taken this photo when the lights went out.

During

At first I thought someone had flipped a light switch. There were still plenty of auxiliary lights, so it was by no means dark in the cathedral, and no one was ushering visitors out. I continued my visit, and realized the entire cathedral had only auxiliary lights. At about 1pm I finally went outside and decided to get some lunch.

I went into a restaurant and asked for a table. They said it was cash only and they had a very limited menu. I asked the server, “¿No hay luz?” He confirmed. I asked if it was the whole city. He said it’s the whole country.

Anway, I had lunch (a salad) and went for a walk around the outskirts of the city along the river. When I got back and the lights were still out, I realized this might go on for a while. Many shops and restaurants were still open on a cash basis, and many tourists were wandering around. A lot of people come to Toledo by train from Madrid just for the day, so I realized that many would be stranded here. I went back to my hotel and took a nap. When I woke up, I heard voices in the hallway. The rest of the group were back from Madrid. They also lucked out. They had done all their sightseeing and were just about to get lunch when the power went out. So they got on the road quickly back to Toledo, but it still took quite some time, with heavy traffic. They missed a few hours of free time to explore, but compared to so many others, our group was very lucky.

We found some snack items in a local shop and put together a little picnic in our hotel lobby, and that was our day. The power came back on at about 10:30 last night.

So yes, I was slightly affected, but not as badly as it could have been if it had started earlier in the day or happened on a different day.

Back to Úbeda

We only stayed two nights in Úbeda, so we just had the first evening and the one day, which was enough, because it is a small town. Even with our olive oil outing, there was plenty of time to walk around and explore. There were some interesting monumental buildings, more than I would have expected in such a small town.

Olive Oil

We visited Oleicola San Francisco, a top producer of olive oil in the province of Jaén, which is the top olive-oil-producting region in Spain (which is the top olive-oil-producing country in the world). They took us to visit an olive grove and learn about how olives are grown and harvested. And they showed us how olive oil use to be produced, and the modern technologies used today to make the highest quality product. Of course we got to taste some. And we helped make lunch, which consisted of a lot of dishes that featured–you guessed it–olive oil. Of course, at the end there was a buying opportunity.

Sinagoga del Agua

As I mentioned, this synagogue was a highlight of my visit to Úbeda. In fact, it was one of the highlights of this entire three-month trip, not for what I saw, but for what it represents.

Our guide, Andrea, is the director of the site, and though he is not Jewish, he spoke to us with so much insight and understanding about the significance of this synagogue. He told us the story behind it.

About 15 years ago a local real estate investor bought this building, which housed several apartments and a hair salon. His plan was to enlarge it with a third level and construct 11 apartments with shops below.

During demolition, he discovered evidence of something historic, some arches that had been bricked over. By law he was required to report this. But his friends, knowing that following the law could involved delays and expenses that might derail his project, tried to convince him to proceed without reporting what he had discovered. But he was interested in finding out the history of this building, so he did report it. 

Now demolition proceeded slowly and carefully, preserving any artifacts they discovered and all the architectural details. Much of the space was piled with debris, and as they cleared it, they found that what they thought was an upstairs room was a balcony with columns that had been bricked up. This was the first evidence that they had discovered a medeival synagogue.

The basement was completely filled with trash and dirt, almost all the way to the ceiling. Little by little, they hauled the rubbish away, discovering a large room with a vaulted ceiling. They expected to find clay amphorae for the storage of wine and olive oil and other food items, as they had in another room, but there was nothing but the floor of stone and dirt.

They erected scaffolding in order to repair the vaulted ceiling but the scaffolding kept sinking into the floor. So they started digging. First they found steps going down, and soon they found a stone base. Eventually it became clear that this was a mikveh, the ritual bath belonging to the synagogue. They also found a mezuzah.

And as they finished emptying the mikveh of dirt, it began to fill with pure, clean water. They had no idea where the water was coming from.

So was born the Sinagoga del Agua, the Synagogue of Water, in Úbeda.

I’m sure my retelling of the story isn’t half as impactful for you, dear reader, as it was for me to hear it from Andrea and see it first hand. But I hope you can understand why this was such a meaningful experience for me.

Anyway, all my pictures from Úbeda and the olive oil factory are here.