Parador Santo Estevo Spain

The parador located in the heart of Galicia, is built into a Benedictine monastery whose origins go back to the eighth century. The building is a mix of Baroque and Plateresque architecture, there are three attached chapels, one Romanesque, one Gothic and the third Baroque so that there's something for the devotees of each architectural period. Evidently several of the monastic cells were combined to make up a room, because these are anything but monastically spartan but rather quite large, light and very nicely furnished. What is striking is that while, in the public rooms, the monastic character of the building has been preserved, with simple, clear lines and relatively sparse (although sufficient) furnishings, these are starkly, almost aggressively modernistic. The contrast of the medieval and the post modern is striking. One approaches the parador on a lengthy winding road that follows the valleys of two rivers, the Mino and the Sil. The region, isolated, spectacularly beautiful with any number of vistas of river canyons and distant mountain crests, and mostly depopulated, is known as the Ribeira Sacra for the large number of monastic establishments it contains. The last stretch is down a narrow, winding road to the valley floor and if you happen to encounter a bus on its way up (in Spain buses will attempt almost anything) you had better be prepared to back up to the nearest lay-by. The area is ideal for hiking, excursions on horseback and canoe trips on the river. The latter two can be arranged through the concierge. You are not really near to any significant towns so you'd better make up your mind that you're going to be taking your meals at the parador, but fortunately the cuisine is excellent and the buffet among the best in the chain. You can expect to pay around $130 a night for your room.

Parador Reis Catolicos Santiago de Compostela Spain

With the advance of the Seljuk Turks in the latter half of the eleventh century the pilgrimages to Jerusalem, which had been at the heart of Christian medieval piety, were effectively choked off. This would eventually lead to the crusades, but in the meantime an alternative venue was desperately needed. What emerged was Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain where the burial place of the Apostle St James the Greater ( Santiago )had been miraculously revealed to some shepherds early in the ninth century when they observed a star which, instead of moving along the sky with the rest of the firmament, remained stationary over a field the whole of the night. (Compostela=star/field). Then, in 844, a mysterious figure on a white horse joined some Christian knights who were fighting a losing rear guard action against the advancing Moors and turned the tide of battle, only to disappear as mysteriously as he had come. It was decided that this had been the avatar of St James, who was on the spot dubbed Matamoros (slayer of Moors), a church was built over his grave, where miracles soon enough occured, and it became a destination of local pilgimages. The Cluniac Order, the great reforming force within the Church in the eleventh century, decided that Santiago would be the perfect successor to Jerusalem, it lay at the end of an arduous journey from the heart of Europe, but not an impossible one, and soon enough pilgrims were making their way to Santiago on foot from France, Italy, even Germany. To this day, driving almost everywhere in northern and central Spain along the Camino de Santiago, the Pilgrim's Way, one can observe them, clad in hiking outfits, laden with rucksacks, carrying the traditional pilgrim's staff and wearing a conch, the symbol of the pilgimage, trudging along, singing the traditional pilgrim songs. Having made one's way to Santiago in motorized comfort one feels at least a small twinge of guilt when one observes the tired to the bone pilgrims arriving at last, often after some weeks on the road, at what is now the cathedral in Santiago, but this is instantly replaced by vicarious pleasure as one observes the real joy with which they perform the traditional gesture of rubbing the foot of the saint's bronze statue in the nave.

As the number of pilgrims to Santiago kept increasing, a whole industry evolved around them, but providing adequate housing for them grew to be a serious problem. To address this, in the last decade of the fifteenth century, the Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, the Reis Catolicos who by their marriage had just joined the crowns of Aragon and Castille, caused a huge hostel to be built directly across the main square from the cathedral. This offered free lodging and food to pilgrims for over four centuries. Eventually this became a parador so that that which had offered accomodation at the very lowest end of the scale was transformed into a five star hotel, although, for many years, mindful of its origins, it continued to dispense a free meal to arriving pilgrims in a basement canteen. Today the Reis Catolicos, clad in a Renaissance cum Baroque facade, is the undisputed flagship of the parador chain, a truly grand old lady, the oldest hotel in the world. Everything about it is on a grand scale. To begin with, while the entirety of the old upper town is closed to automobile traffic, if you're booked at the parador you are allowed to drive up to its doors. Then, as if by magic, your bags are taken from your car to reappear later in your room, the car is whisked away to an underground garage, and you're escorted inside. What you eventually see is a profusion of courtyards, an incredible array of public rooms -- one year I counted over twenty --, all splendidly appointed, and an atmosphere that can only be described as luxurious opulence. I realize that to some point this is hyperbole, but on one occasion I said to my Delightful Traveling Companion, "My dear, we're staying in the best hotel in the world". The rooms vary, some are merely of good size, others are immense, all are furnished with genuinely old and good pieces, but have no fear, the bathrooms, as well as the pillows and mattresses are reassuringly up to date. The bar serves the best cocktail hors d'oeuvres in the whole chain, the are actually two restaurants, one specializing in lighter fare, the other featuring a splendid Galician cuisine, and the breakfast buffets are stunningly lavish -- the smoked salmon is real Scottish, there is a truly staggering array of cheeses, and for those who go in for that sort of thing, free wine, both still and Sparkling, is on offer. Finally, certainly this is a personal, even idiossyncratic, touch, but for me there is no better moment than when I step out unto the raised entryway of the parador and survey the vast Plaza de Obradoiro before me, the cathedral across the way, the square thronged with pilgrims, bagpipes playing in the background -- these are not invading Scots, the Galicians too were originally Celts and maintain a tradition of playing Celtic music --, I feel, at least for a moment, that I'm King of the World.

Now obviously, all of this doesn't come cheap. In high season you can expect to pay around two-hundred-and- fifty dollars a night for the room, perhaps two thirds of that in the off season. But a word to the wise. I've just read in the Amigos bulletin that for the coming September and October Amigos are offered two nights for the price of one. That's a value that simply can't be beat. If you possibly can get away then, put on your conches and make your way to Santiago.

Parador de Fuente De Spain

This was my first parador. We were driving in the Picos de Europa mountains (there are seven major mountain ranges in Spain and many more minor ones, if mountain driving is not your thing, forget it) looking for a place to stay. We came to Fuente De where the road ends and where the parador is a majestic, you might even say, an overwhelming presence. We'd noticed what looked like a very nice little hotel further down the valley so we went into the parador to see if we could get some information about it. The concierge very graciously offered to call up to see if there were any rooms available, at which point I happened to notice a parador brochure on his desk. Well, this was some twenty years ago, I'd just passed sixty, and it turned out that, in those blessed pre euro days, the senior rate for a room, including the breakfast buffet, was thirty five dollars. So of course we stayed there.

The parador itself is a new build in the typical Spanish mountain hotel style, very long and squat, white stucco with brown timbering. The rooms and bathrooms, while of perfectly adequate size, are nothing special, except that in the front there is an enclosed terrace with a table and two easy chairs from which you have a spectacular, unobstructed view of the valley and the peaks beyond it. At the time the public rooms were crammed full of antiques, including at least half a dozen gorgeous seventeenth century small writing desks. In the course of a recent refurbishing (all paradors undergo this every ten to fifteen years) these have now mostly been replaced by modern reproductions, but the effect remains pretty much the same -- a grandly furnished nobleman's hunting lodge. In the back there sits the sheer cliff that closes off the valley, a truly spectacular sight. On its lower slope, in most seasons of the year, there will be a herd of chamois grazing, if the wind is in your favor and you use elementary stalking techniques you can get quite close to them. On the higher ledges mountain goats can be seen. There is a funicular that goes to the top of the cliff (best avoid this if you're queezy about heights, it's a long way down in mid ride) and if one's up to it one can make the descent on foot, which takes about two hours. Failing that, there are hiking trails through the woods on the lower slope of the mountain. Keep in mind, particularly if you've driven up from the hot and sunny sea coast, that you're now in the high mountains and dress accordingly. The old town of Potes, with its medieval covered arcades and lively cafes is about a twenty minute drive down valley and is a nice excursion point. Just before one gets to Potes coming from the parador there is the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana with a good Romanesque church in which a copy of the famous late eleventh century Liebana Scripture is on display. Back at the parador, the buffet, while not quite as lavish as in some of the fancier paradors, is more than adequate and at dinner, a rarity these days, you can get a decent caraffe wine for around eight dollars. The stay, with the buffet included, will cost you roughly a hundred dollars for a night, in my opinion money well spent if you enjoy staying in the mountains but are not any longer into camping out.

The Paradors of Spain

I'll begin with some general remarks on the parador chain and go on to describe life in the paradors. There was a World Fair scheduled for Seville in the 1920's and in the planning thereof it soon became evident that Spain did not have nearly enough superior class hotels to accomodate the large number of foreign guests who would be coming. Someone came up with the idea of remedying this lack by having the government build these and Alfonso XIII, the grandfather of the present king, gave the idea his wholehearted support. In the nature of things, nothing was finished in time for the Fair, but eventually a chain of some ninety odd luxury hotels came into being, with half a dozen others to be opened in the near future. What is unique about the paradors is that while some of them were new constructions, the great majority are refurbished palaces, castles, fortresses, monasteries, chapter houses, baronial mansions and the like, of which there was a great plentitude going to seed in a country which had experienced a depressed ecomomy for a very long time indeed. As a result many of the paradors are genuinely impressive: vast interior spaces, a profusion of public rooms, spectacular sites. And while the interiors were brought up to modern standards, no expense was spared in furnishing them with period pieces, be it genuine antiques or at least first rate reproductions. In some of them the bedrooms are vast and feature four poster beds. The dining rooms offer good regional fare at standard prices (with the proviso that the menu remains the same throughout any given year, which is hardly ideal for a longer stay), and there is a truly sumptuous buffet breakfast on offer, which is included in the reductions for both young and old. If your Spanish is not up to snuff, the personnel at the front desk all have some English, as is the case with dining room staff. Moreover, while the paradors are hardly cheap, they cost a fraction of what European hotel palaces charge nowadays. A couple of tips: when making your first reservation ask to join the Amigos de Paradores. This will get you a card that entitles you to free parking in the garage (important in the cities), a complimentary glass of wine for two in the bar, and you will earn points toward a free stay. Secondly, you are entitled to a reduced rate if you happen to be young (under twenty five) or a senior (over sixty, and only one member of a couple need be). Finally, there are special promotions in selected paradors, such as two nights for the price of one, which are announced ahead of time in the bulletin for the Friends, published on line. You can also book a room at a considerably reduced price through Priceline, in which case you have to pay separately for the breakfast buffet and you do not accumulate any points. By now you will have concluded that I'm completely addicted to the paradors, which I freely admit. As I see it, this is, these days, given the parlous condition of the dollar, the very best way to enjoy a truly luxurious hotel stay for a reasonable price.

Hotel Arco San Juan Santo Domingo de Silos Spain

This is a small, family run hotel, really pretty basic. The rooms as well as the bathrooms are small although impeccably clean and the mattresses are on the hard side. But now comes the good news. Just below your window there is gently burbling brook which will lull you to sleep on a warm summer night. The dinners, served with panache by the owner's son are ample and tasty, the baby lamb chops are particularly good. In the morning you will find your napkins from the previous evening neatly folded at the same table you occupied at dinner, a touch which my lovely travelling companion found particularly charming, and there is freshly squeezed orange juice. The bill for all this, room, two dinners, two breakfasts, will come to perhaps $60, which will make up for whatever shortcomings the place may have. But the chief reason for staying there is that the hotel is within a hundred yards of the magnificent abbey of Santo Domingo. This is one of the glories of Spain. The Baroque exterior is unremarkable but on the inside, in the cloister, there are capitals with the greatest early Romanesque (ca. 1070) carving in Spain. And in the evening, between the cocktail hour and dinner, you can attend the vesper services in the abbey and listen to the monks intoning their justly famous Gregorian chants and, at the conclusion of the service, observe them departing in a solemn single file procession . If you're lucky, after breakfast, you might catch sight of the monks in procession to a little hilltop chapel overlooking the hotel, something that transported me straight into the heart of the middle ages. There are other hotels in Silos, but they're not well run, this is the one of choice. But a word of caution, avoid staying there in the cold season, the central heating is minimal.

Westin Palace Madrid, Spain

We decided that we wanted to be in the thick of things in Madrid and this venerable old hotel can't be beat in that respect. It's literally across the street from both the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museums and a ten minutes walk from the Plaza Mayor. There are taxis available at the front door any hour of the day or night and a number of restaurants are within walking distance. The hotel was recently refurbished and is meticulously kept up. There's a computer room with half a dozen or so terminals available free of charge to hotel guests. Our room was spacious, nicely furnished with good quality pieces and the bathroom was entirely up to standard. The only negative is that there are unending functions, meetings, conferences and the like so that the lobby and the public rooms tend always to be crowded both at lunch and dinner times and one must often wait in line to ask the concierge a question. The staff all speak at least some English. On balance I'd say the Palace is perhaps at the lower end of the five star category but definitely within it. We were able to get a very favorable rate through Priceline, paying the equivalent of $135 per night. A taxi ride from the airport costs around thirty dollars.
I'd advise against trying to drive yourself, Madrid traffic can be daunting. All in all, a fine place to start or end one's trip through Spain.