5 Best Sights in Andalusia, Spain

This 13th-century synagogue counts among Úbeda's most amazing discoveries. Entirely underground and known as the "Water Synagogue" for the wells and natural spring under the mikvah, it comprises seven areas open to visitors, including the main area of worship, mikvah, women's gallery, and rabbi's quarters. During the summer solstice the sun's rays illuminate the stairway, providing the only natural light in the synagogue.

Begun in the early 16th century but restored as a beautiful arcaded baroque palace in 1680, the former town hall is now a conservatory of music. From the hall's upper balcony, the town council watched celebrations and autos-da-fé ("acts of faith"—executions of heretics sentenced by the Inquisition) in the square below. You can't enter the town hall, but on the north side you can visit the 13th-century Iglesia de San Pablo, with its Isabelline south portal.

Sometimes jokingly called the Escorial of Andalusia (in allusion to Felipe II's monolithic palace and monastery outside Madrid), this huge angular building in the modern section of town is yet another of Vandelvira's masterpieces in Úbeda. The plain facade is adorned with ceramic medallions, and over the main entrance is a carving of Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moorslayer) in his traditional horseback pose. Inside are an arcaded patio and a grand staircase. Now a cultural center, it holds many of the events at the Festival de Úbeda, celebrating music and dance in May and June ( www.festivaldeubeda.com).

Vandelvira's 16th-century Palacio Juan Vázquez de Molina is better known as the Palacio de las Cadenas because decorative iron chains (cadenas) were once affixed to the columns of its main doorway. It's now the town hall and has entrances on both Plaza Vázquez de Molina and Plaza Ayuntamiento. Molina was a nephew of Francisco de los Cobos, and both served as secretaries to Emperor Carlos V and King Felipe II.

The Plaza Vázquez de Molina, in the heart of the casco antiguo, is the site of this building, which is photographed so often that it's become the city's unofficial symbol. It was built by Vandelvira, but he based his design on several plans drafted in 1536 by Diego de Siloé, architect of Granada's cathedral. Considered one of the masterpieces of Spanish Renaissance religious art, the chapel was sacked in the frenzy of church burnings at the outbreak of the civil war, but it retains its ornate western façade and altarpiece, which has a rare Berruguete sculpture.