Ubeda and Cordoba

Picked up the car, left Granada and headed into the heart of Andalusia, HOT! I am staying at a lovely hotel in a tiny village called Manjibar, between Jaen and Ubeda. I wasted most of the afternoon trying to connect my Mac to the WiFi. Only place it seemed to work was by the bar! To relax, I made the most of the hotel spa - sorry, no pics. of that.


Next day I drove to Ubeda, worth a visit: "The village was founded in the 9th century by Abd al-Rahman II and it was called Ubbadat. It became one of the most important cities in al-Andalus due to its handicrafts and trade. Its walls were built in 852. Kings Alfonso VI and Alfonso VII tried to conquer the village, with different degrees of success. Almoravids and Almohads conquered it successively in the 11th and 12th centuries. King Fernando III finally re-conquered the city in 1234.
The city took part in the siege of Algeciras in 1344 and some years later it was set fire to and suffered the killings ordered by Muhammad V. The many fights in Baeza led the Catholic Kings to order the walls and towers of the fortress to be destroyed in 1503.
San Juan de la Cruz died in this city. Ubeda has received the name of City of Andalusian Renaissance due to the quantity and quality of the monuments belonging to this artistic period, though it is also quite representative of the Plateresque style."


I had the privilege of interviewing 'Tito Martinez' and his sons. Nationally recognized artists in their field, due, I think, to the evident duel talent for craft and commerce. The shop is never closed and all the family helps out. They make the most of every bit of publicity and the huge shop they have is in a beautiful old house. It is part museum and part workshop and I spent such a good time there I ended up buying something!
Which I had promised myself I would not do, (as I have to lug it around for 8 more weeks), but I was so impressed with their knowledge of traditional styles as well as current events and connections in the ceramic world. The son is finishing a degree in Philosophy at the moment.
Here is the clan and a picture of Tito Jr about to show me how it is done.


















After a lazy night and a fairly lazy morning - I hardly ate the day before so decided to go to a cafe before leaving and pigged out on toast and tomato spread swallowed down with a thick milky coffee. Next stop, Cordoba, my mother's birthplace and home to an aunt and five of her seven children. I was looking forward to seeing them all. It has been over 20 years since I was last here, but families are close-knit and I knew I would get a warm welcome.
Recently Obama said he wished the world were more like Cordoba. He was referring to the fact that Jews, Christians and Arabs lived together in Cordoba harmoniously for many hundreds of years. Ironically it was the liberal Arabs who encouraged this when they were the masters - they employed Christians as high ranking officers in their courts. Then the Christians took over, and the new lords where less tolerant. The Spanish have only started to acknowledge their Moorish cultural heritage in the last 20 years.

I was once again extremely lucky in finding exceptional artisans during my three days here. I could have spoken to more if I did not need to catch up with so many relatives!
The Gentleman on the left is a leather-worker; so exceptional I am going to write a separate entry on him! And below is an example of filigree silver. Cordoba is mainly famous for leather and jewelry. However, there are hardly any traditional craftsmen left. Only two 'houses' do filigree jewelry, which is like embroidery with silver threads, and no attempt is being made to incorporate this process in a more modern way. I was unable to speak to either of the workshops.

My aunt was once almost betrothed to the leading leather worker, but she did not like his damaged eye, due to an accident with a sibling. I went twice to the shop but both times it was closed. I did see my cousin's husband's father, who is a self taught painter and now appreciated for his traditional style. His work is seen on all the annual posters for the fairs and the open air cinema season people enjoy here so much.

I also met a wonderful old master, called Rafael Centella Palomo, a furniture maker who showed me his best pieces - the ones he wont sell. He would love to teach his craft, but as he does not have the qualifications to teach, his experience will not be passed on. There should be a way of allowing old masters to teach, without making them fill out papers or take exams or pay for heath and safety certificates. Here in Spain if someone decides to have an apprentice they have to pay all the costs including national insurance. These crafts men have lived frugal lives and barely have enough saved up for a decent pension.



Rafael has no children and sleeps in the huge bed his father made as a wedding gift to his wife. The small flat is full of wonderful pieces of furniture, chess sets, walking sticks and boxes made of scented woods like sycamore and sandalwood.




The last place I went to was the “Zoco”, a group of workshops for contemporary craftsmen in a beautiful old courtyard, subsidized by the local council, but most of the workshops where boarded up and there where no traditional master craftsmen to be seen. I spoke to a lady called Carmen Lucena who calls herself a 'creative ceramicist'. She was up to date with modern technology and chaired a small exhibition group. However, she admitted that there was a lot of talk and little action coming from the council, they had been promising to help out with a “Zoco” website, but due to cut back and recession this had not happened yet.
Cordoba still has a lot of artisans, but there seems to be little dialogue between the different generations and and they are either hampered by a lack of commercial knowledge, or a lack of technical expertise.

I have one last delicious lunch with my aunt and cousins and leave Cordoba reluctantly in the blistering heat.