The Paradors of Spain

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25 FEBRUARY 2004
Parador Ronda, Ronda, Andalusia
Take care choosing your room if you don’t have a head for heights. Two sides of this parador look over a sheer drop of over 130 metres into El Tajo, the great rock gorge which splits Ronda in two. Parador Ronda is one of the network's most contemporary constructions: an imaginative conversion of a former civic building, now bright and cheerful and crammed with plants, with a bar, terrace, gardens and a swimming pool outside on the edge of the gorge. Ronda itself is one of the most dramatic places in Spain. The spectacular Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) built in 1761 – alas, the architect fell to his death from it – links the old Moorish "Cuidad", the noble aristocratic quarter of fine mansions and gardens, with the modern "Mercadillo" or merchant quarter, bustling with tapas bars, shops and restaurants.

Conde de Gondemar, Baiona, Galicia
It was from the fortified rocky peninsula at Baiona that Columbus’s ship The Pinta was first sighted on its return from the New World, and would-be conquerors including Sir Francis Drake have had a crack at besieging its walls. Astonishingly, much of the parador inside the walls dates back to 1966 – although you’d be hard-pressed to guess it. The new part is built in the style of a Galician manor house with a huge staircase, tapestries and heraldic banners. In the restaurant, the seafood alone is worth the trip.

REPORT: JILL CRAWSHAW