In Praise of Paradors

Granada

If you're thinking of cultural innovations, Spain in the years 1930 - 1950 may not be the first period which comes to mind. And unless you have travelled much in that remarkable country, you may be completely in the dark as to what a parador is.

Remarkably, they started in the 1920s, and developed under Franco's fascist regime. Paradors are a chain of government owned luxury hotels. The official title is Paradores de Turismo de España. I had heard of these from my Hispanophile mother, but until the latest trip I'd never set foot in one. Think Spanish tourism, and there may come to mind the ghastly high rise hotels which started to pollute the coast line in the 1960s. Paradors couldn't be more different.

The movement was the brainchild of King Alfonso XIII. It was clear that tourism was a growing sector, but Spain had a poor infrastructure, and few hotels outwith the major cities. The aim was two fold: the encouragement of tourism in less well developed areas, and the showcasing of Spanish culture and history. The latter is brilliantly well achieved by the fact that most paradors are sited in buildings of historic importance. Mind you that's not the way it kicked off. There are various claims to have been the pioneer, but my research suggests that the first ever was in Gredos, in the Sierra de Gredos mountains in the Ávila region. Kings being kings this wasn't historic at all. It was a new build. Why? Because our Alfonso loved to hunt in the area, and fancied a comfortable gaff to stay in.

That, however, was the exception. There are now many buildings, palaces, monasteries and so on, which might have fallen into disrepair without the tourist revenue. We stayed in three during our tour of Andalusia, in

Ubeda and the Virgin of Guadaloupe

Málaga, Granada and Úbeda. The latter, incidentally, is one of that region's best kept secrets, largely because the train station is miles away from the town itself. Take the bus and you will be rewarded with a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a delightful town full of gems of Renaissance architecture. The hotel's full title is Palacio del Deán Ortega. Taking coffee you can be slightly disconcerted by tourists wandering in and out.

The Granada parador is a former monastery which once was home to the tombs of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, the so called Catholic Monarchs (Reyes Católicos). The title was bestowed by Pope Alexander VI in recognition of their role in defeating the Moors, reconquering Granada, and establishing Spain as a firmly Catholic country.

View from Malaga Parador

There are now about 90 paradors in total. While independently managed, they do pool resources. Their websites and stationery, for example, have obviously been designed by the same hand. You will generally eat very well there. Among the Spanish traditions they uphold, regional cuisine is among the most important. We dined splendidly in Málaga*, less so in Granada. Our plans for dinner in Úbeda were thwarted by the fantastic procession of the Virgin of Guadaloupe. No one does these things quite like the Spanish.

Be warned. Paradors are not cheap places to stay, though we found the food to be quite reasonably priced. The settings are often spectacular - on a hill top in Málaga, in the grounds of the Alhambra in Granada. But if you can afford it, do sample for yourself. Quite unlike anywhere else you will have stayed.

*See the forthcoming review in Friday's Tom Eats!