Parador Ciudad Rodrigo; Parador Benavente. Parador Puebla de Sanabria Spain

Ciudad Rodrigo is located close to the Portuguese border, west of Salamanca. It is yet another Spanish hilltop town which features a cathedral that is part late Romanesque, part Gothic. The parador is a fifteenth century fortress with a massive block tower that dominates the landscape stretching out below it. The interior is impressively medieval, the rooms are large and well furnished. I must in candor say that this was the one parador dining experience that I found really disappointing, the food was simply badly prepared; but this was some years ago and the chef may well have been replaced. The surrounding plain is mostly grasslands interspersed with groves of oak trees under which herds of fighting bulls shelter from the sun. Interestingly, these massive beasts, so fierce in the bull ring, are quite placid when in a herd, although I still wouldn't recommend trying to pet them if they come up to the fence.

Benavente is located halfway between Zamora and Leon. The town has a fine Romanesque church as well as a transitional one with two extremely good Romanesque portals and a beautiful thirteenth century Annunciation. The parador, overlooking a finely proportioned square, is located in a fifteenth century Renaissance palace built of red brick. The public rooms have great coffered ceilings. Some bedrooms have splendid views of the surrounding countryside. There is an outdoor pool.

Puebla de Sanabria is a convenient place for an overnight stopover if one is driving from Zamora to Santiago de Compostela. It's a mountain village close to the Portuguese border with a fifteenth century castle built by the Counts of Benavente and a late Romanesque church. The parador, a newbuild, is a little distance away with a very fine view of the ensemble. An eminently worthwhile excursion is to the nearby lake of Sanabria, the largest glacial lake in Spain, overlooking which there's a very good Romanesque church. The last time I was there the local curate had come up with an ingenious solution to the problem of keeping the churchyard grass mowed: there was a donkey tethered in it, happily grazing.

Back to Spain: Hotel Rector Salamanca

I propose now to write about the paradors I've liked but not reviewed before, as well as a hotel or two in that category. For the sake of convenience I shall arrange them roughly in a clockwise circle from Madrid, although this is not meant to be a strictly followed itinerary -- it would certainly be exhausting for all but the most indefatigable travellers.

The Salamanca parador, like the one in Segovia, is an uninspiring newbuild in an ugly, outlying part of the city. For my part I prefer staying at the Hotel Rector. It's somewhat pricier than the parador but not prohibitively so. For that the location can't be beat, it's right next to the main square. The Rector is a traditional late nineteenth century hotel palace, with huge public spaces and the traditional Spanish interior courtyard. The rooms vary in size from the adequate to the huge, the bathrooms are tastefully decked out in marble. There's free internet access. Salamanca is great fun to explore. The Plaza Mayor is perhaps the finest in Spain. A gift to the city from the Bourbon king Philip V as thanks for having supported him in the civil war that ousted the Habsburgs, it was designed by the master Spanish architects of the century, the Churriguera brothers. Marvelously proportioned arcades support three storeys on all four sides of the square, the effect being one of perfect harmony. And on rainy days, which for whatever reason have dogged me every time I've been in Salamanca, one is grateful for the shelter offered under the arcades. The main pedestrian thoroughfare that leads from the square to the university not only offers a wide variety of shops but has numerous examples of Spanish Plateresque, an art for that could be described as stick-on decoration. The best of these is the fifteenth century Casa de las Conchas. Just before the university one encounters the wonderfully harmonious Patio de las Escuelas, a perfectly proportioned tiny square with Plateresque on all four sides. The university, with a truly sumptuous fifteenth century carved gate, is among the oldest in the world, tracing its origins back to 1218. In the middle ages it rivaled Bologna as a center of canon law. Just beyond lies the unusual connected double cathedral. The "new" is sixteenth century with later additions, an interesting mix of late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles; the "old" is a very fine example of twelfth century High Romanesque, with a lovely cloister.

Strandhotel Belvedere Spiez Switzerland

Spiez is a charming little lakeside town in the Bernese Oberland. It's a haven of tranquility within easy reach of Berne. The hotel is sited right on the shore of Lake Thun, with splendid views of both the lake and the Bernese Alps. It has a small spa and an excellent restaurant with a very respectable rating in the Gault Millaud restaurant guide. It's rated as a four star although that's probably a stretch, the furnishings are on the old fashioned side and the rooms have exposed radiators. This is a very nice place for a quiet weekend with a choice of many excursions, both on the lake and on land. Unfortunately the prices are considerably too high for what's on offer. Even in the low season a double room with breakfast included is S.F. 290. (Priceline lists this at $435, which is ludicrous). This leads me to the conclusion that these days the Swiss have priced themselves out of sight, certainly well above my means. Beautiful as the country is, I cannot in good conscience go on recommending hotels at these prices.

Hotel de la Paix Lausanne Switzerland

For me Lausanne is a preferable base from which to explore French speaking Switzerland (La Suisse Romande) than Geneva. It's a smaller, more manageable city, less pretentious and marginally cheaper. It's located on the shore of the Leman (Lake Geneva) so that one can take the lake steamer for a day trip to the larger city or, in the opposite direction, to visit the meticulously restored medieval castle in Chillon. There is of course, as everywhere in Switzerland, a very good train service as well. The Hotel de la Paix is a four star overlooking the lake, but also within easy walking distance of the business center. It is meticulously kept, the rooms are of a good size. Free internet service is provided. At the moment one can Priceline a double room for $276 per night, which is about 10% below the rack rate.

Hotel Mont Cervin Zermatt Switzerland

Zermatt, the crown jewell of the Valais (Wallis in German) is unique. First of all the entire village is, for practical purposes, a pedestrian zone. Non resident cars are not allowed, one leaves one's car in a guarded parking down in the valley (15 S.F. daily) and takes a mountain railway. The first glimpse of the Matterhorn as one emerges from the last tunnel is unforgettable -- there is no peak in the Alps, perhaps not in the whole world, which rises in such magnificent, isolated splendor. It simply takes one's breath away. A horse drawn carriage picks you up to the station and conveys you and your luggage to the hotel.Alexander Seiler, a mid nineteenth century Zermatt resident and budding entrepreneur recognized its potential to attract both tourists and potential climbers of the mountain and, in 1855, opened the Monte Rosa inn. When, some ten years later, after many unsuccessful attempts by others, the Englishman Edward Whymper finally succeeded in reaching the top, an ascent that ended with a fatal accident on the way down, a frisson went through the Western world and Zermatt's reputation as a must stage on any nineteenth century was made. Seiler built on this to eventually own a group of five hotels in the village of which the Mont Cervin is the flagship. It has everything that one would expect of a five star establishment, an indoor-outdoor pool, spa, sauna, tennis courts and of course skiing and skating in the winter. Zermatt is in the southern part of the country and the number of bright, sunny days that make hiking in the region such a glorious experience tends to be greater than in the Engadine. The finest adventure of all is to take the cable car up to the altitude of 12,000 feet and to walk on the Matterhorn glacier. One can attempt an ascent of the mountain of course, but only after having produced the bona fides of an experienced high altitude climber and even then only with a certified local guide, and those don't work cheap.For dining, there is a so-called eat around plan with which one can chose to take a meal in any of the eleven restaurants in the five Seiler hotels. Unfortunately all this comes at a price, in the offseason in summer one can expect to pay over 500 S.F. a day for the smallest double room and the winter prices are out of sight. One may of course choose to stay at one of the other four Seiler hotels (one is half way up the mountain), all of which are at least four stars, and pay perhaps between half and two thirds of that.

Grand Hotel Kronenhof Pontresina Switzerland

If you want to spend a vacation in the Upper Engadine but want to bypass the hustle and bustle as well as the excessively high prices of St Moritz, Pontresina, an hour's walk away, is a good choice. The village, it's true, lives almost entirely off the tourist industry but there are only fifteen hotels in all and, particularly in the off season, one feels very much at peace with nature. The Kronenhof is a standard late nineteenth century palace hotel which has been substantially modernized. There's an indoor pool, a spa and tennis courts. In winter there's a skating rink, adjacent to which there is a substantial pavillion which serves snacks throughout the day and the ski slopes are within easy reach. There is a formal restaurant, in which one is expected to wear a dark suit and tie at dinner, and a more informal Stubli, where the food is actually better. The rooms are of good size, the furnishings, while perfectly adequate, are not quite up to the five star standard which the hotel enjoys. The great thing about Pontresina is the wonderful variety of walks that one can chose. One is soon out of the village, walking amidst the most incredibly beautiful Alpine scenery. The most spectacular trail leads to the massive Bernina Glacier which, if you take elementary precautions such as roping together in a group of at least four persons, wearing cleated boots and carrying an ice axe, you can climb. It's a longish halfday's trek, but a truly exhilarating experience. In the off season a double room at the Kronenhof goes for about 325 S.F. for the night. (I spent part of my honeymoon there more years ago than I care to remember and paid exactly one tenth of that -- o tempora, o mores!)

Suvretta House St Moritz Switzerland

St Moritz over the Christmas Holidays has long been a meeting ground of the super rich. This is where the twin concepts of tasteful vulgarity and understated ostentation were first developed. If one happens to be hit by a car on the crowded streets of thew village one at least has the consolation of knowing that one has been run over by a Lamborghini. The prices at the leading hotels have risen into the stratosphere (the glitterati tend to stay mostly at the Palace). Sour apples perhaps, but it's not for me. However, in the low season (the second half of January in winter and June and September in summer) it's still possible to get some impression of what St Moritz was originally about, namely spending a quiet few days in the midst of a truly stunningly beautiful mountainous countryside while enjoying all the creature comforts. My favourite hotel by far is the Suvretta House. One of the five five star establishments that the village can boast of, it's located well outside of town, surrounded by woods. While the outside has not shaken off the assertive monumentality of pre World War I hotel architecture, on the inside everything reflects luxury and good taste, two qualities that are not always conjoined. Everything conducive to an extended stay is provided, there is a huge indoor pool, a spa, tennis courts, the ski slopes are but a short walk fom the front door, there are well maintained hiking paths leading in all directions. My favorite is the one leading down to the lake in the village and then, through the woods to Pontresina, whence one returns by train, altogether a half day's trek. More serious climbing is also available several twelve thousand foot peaks may be ascended with a day's climb. Indoors a small orchestra plays dance music both at the tea hour and in the evenings. The food in the restaurant is at the high end of grand hotel cookery, somewhere between one and two star Michelin rating. If you're bored here you have only yourself to blame. The downside is that, even in low season half pension (breakfast and dinner) in a decently sized room will cost you around 1,200 Swiss Francs a day for a couple. If this lies within your means (they lost me some time ago) this is one of the most pleasant means of spending a week or two that I can think of.