The Rough Guide to Spain

946 Pages·2012·66.1 MB·English

by  Simon Baskett

THE ROUGH GUIDE to
Spain
EXPERT ADVICE • FULL COVERAGE • EASY TO USE
INSIDE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION What to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more – everything
you need to get started
BASICS Pre-departure practical information
THE GUIDE Comprehensive, in-depth guide to the region, with area highlights and
full-colour maps throughout
CONTEXTS Spain’s history and wildlife, a guide to flamenco, plus recommended
books and a useful Language section
We’ve fl agged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric café, a special
restaurant – throughout the guide with the (cid:204) symbol.
Spain chapters
Gijón Santander San FRANCE
7 Sebastián Pau
A Coruña
Santiago de 6
Compostela Ponferrada
8
Vigo 11 Girona
Braga 5 Soria Zaragoza Barcelona
Porto 9 10
Tarragona
Segovia
1
MADRID Guadalajara Teruel
PORTUGAL Tol2edo Castellón Palma 13 Maó
Cáceres
Valencia
3
Lisbon Albacete Ibiza Town
Badajoz 12
Alicante MEDITERRANEAN
Córdoba SEA
4
Seville Cartagena
Faro Huelva Granada Mojácar
N Málaga Almería
Cádiz
Marbella
Tangier Gibraltar ALGERIA
0 25
Melilla
MOROCCO kilometres
1 Madrid 5 Castilla y León and La Rioja 9 Aragón
2 Around Madrid 6 Euskal Herria: the País Vasco G Barcelona
3 Castilla-La Mancha and and Navarra H Catalunya
Extremadura 7 Cantabria and Asturias I Valencia and Murcia
4 Andalucía 8 Galicia J The Balearic Islands
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth at roughguides.com
This fourteenth edition published March 2012
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO
Spain
written and researched by
Simon Baskett, Jules Brown, Mark Ellingham, John
Fisher, Geoff Garvey, AnneLise Sorensen and Greg Ward
with additional contributions by
Jen Foster
roughguides.com

INTRODUCTION 3
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Where to go 5 Things not to miss 14
When to go 13 Itineraries 24
BASICS 26
Basics 26 Festivals 43
Getting there 27 Culture and etiquette 45
Getting around 30 Sports and outdoor activities 46
Accommodation 34 Travelling with children 50
Food and drink 38 Travel essentials 51
The media 43
THE GUIDE 58
1 Madrid 58 8 Galicia 542
2 Around Madrid 124 9 Aragón 594
3 Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura 170 10 Barcelona 640
4 Andalucía 222 11 Catalunya 704
5 Castilla y León and La Rioja 368 12 Valencia and Murcia 792
6 Euskal Herria: the País Vasco 13 The Balearic Islands 848
and Navarra 444
7 Cantabria and Asturias 496
CONTEXTS 890
History 891 Books 916
Wildlife 906 Language 923
Flamenco 912
SMALL PRINT & INDEX 931
OPPOSITE SEGOVIA CASTLE PREVIOUS PAGE WINDMILLS AT CONSUEGRA
4 INTRODUCTION
Introduction to
Spain
If you’re visiting Spain for the first time, be warned: this is a country that fast
becomes an addiction. You might intend to come just for a beach holiday, a
walking tour or a city break, but before you know it you’ll find yourself hooked
by something quite different – the wild celebration of some local fiesta,
perhaps, or the otherworldly architecture of Barcelona. Even in the best-known
destinations – from the capital, Madrid, to the costas, from the high Pyrenees
to the Moorish cities of the south – there are genuinely surprising attractions
at every turn, whether it’s hip restaurants in the Basque country, the wild
landscapes of the central plains, or cutting-edge galleries in the industrial
north. Soon, you’ll notice that there is not just one Spain but many – and
indeed, Spaniards themselves often speak of Las Españas (the Spains).
Partly, this is down to an almost obsessive regionalism, stemming from the creation in
the late 1970s of seventeen comunidades autonomías – autonomous regions – with their
own governments, budgets and cultural ministries, even police forces. You might think
you are on holiday in Spain – your hosts may be adamant that you’re actually visiting
Catalunya, and will point to a whole range of differences in language, culture and artistic
traditions, not to mention social attitudes and politics. Indeed, the old days of a unified
nation, governed with a firm hand from Madrid, seem to have gone forever, as the
separate kingdoms that made up the original Spanish state reassert themselves in an
essentially federal structure.
Does any of this matter for visitors? As a rule – not really, since few tourists have the
time or inclination to immerse themselves in contemporary Spanish political discourse.
Far more important is to look beyond the clichés of paella, matadors, sangría and siesta if
you’re to get the best out of a visit to this amazingly diverse country.
Even in the most over-touristed resorts of the Costa del Sol, you’ll be able to find an
authentic bar or restaurant where the locals eat, and a village not far away where an
age-old bullfighting tradition owes nothing to tourism. The large cities of the north,
ABOVE LA PEDRERA, BARCELONA RIGHT CADAQUÉS, COSTA BRAVA >
INTRODUCTION 5
from Barcelona to Bilbao, have reinvented themselves as essential cultural destinations
(and they don’t all close down for hours for a kip every afternoon). And when the world
now looks to Spain for culinary inspiration – the country has some of the most
acclaimed chefs and innovative restaurants in the world – it’s clear that things have
changed. Spain, despite the current economic uncertainty, sees itself very differently from
a generation ago. So should you – prepare to be surprised.
Where to go
Spain’s cities are among the most vibrant in Europe. Exuberant Barcelona, for many, has
the edge, thanks to Gaudí’s extraordinary modernista architecture, the lively promenade
of the Ramblas, five kilometres of sandy beach and the world’s best football team. The
capital, Madrid, may not be as pretty, but it claims as many devotees – immortalized in
the movies of Pedro Almodóvar, and shot through with a contemporary style that
informs everything from its major-league art museums to its carefree bars and summer
cafés. Then there’s Seville, home of flamenco and all the clichés of southern Spain;
Valencia, the vibrant capital of the Levante, with a thriving arts scene and nightlife; and
Bilbao, a not-to-miss stop on Spain’s cultural circuit, due to Frank Gehry’s astonishing
Museo Guggenheim.
Rias Altas Gijón
Santander
A Coruña
Oviedo Cangas
SCaonmtpiaogsote dlae GALICLuIgAo ASTURIAS de OnisPICOS DE PAIS VABiSlbCaoO
Rias Bajas Pontevedra Ourense Ponferrada Astorga León ECUARNOPTAA B RIA Rio Ebro
A GuardVaigoTui Rio Miño Palencia Burgos
Valença Verin
Caminha
Chaves Bragança
Braga Zamora Valladolid Rio Duero
CASTILLA Y
Porto Vila Real LEÓN
SIERRA DE
Salamanca GUADARRAMA
Segovia
Viseu
Ávila Guadalajara
PORCoTimUbGraAL CRPilouaddsreaingdcoia SIERRA DE G R ECDOO SM UNIDAMADD RDIDE MADRID
Castelo Aranjuez
Branco
Rio Tajo
Toledo
Rio Tajo EXTREMADURA
Cáceres Trujillo
Santarem Mérida Rio Guadiana CiuRdeaadl
LISBON
Badajoz
Evora
Valdepeñas
Jerez de los
Caballeros Zafra CASTILLA-LA MANCHA
Beja
Úbeda
Aracena Córdoba
Jaén Baeza
Vila Real Seville Rio Guadalquivir
de Santo Ecija ANDALUCÍA
Antonio Ayamonte Huelva Granada
Faro NA CPAIORNQAULE DE Antequera SIERRA NEVALDAAS
DOÑANA ALPUJARRAS
AVE High-speed Line Costa de la Luz CádizJerez Alar cForos ndteera RondaMarbella Málaga Costa del Sol
F.E.V.E. Private Railway Gibraltar
Standard Motorway Algeciras
Ceuta
Toll Motorway
Tangier
0 150 MOROCCO Tétouan
kilometres Canary Islands
Melilla
N
FRANCE
San Bayonne
Sebastián Pau
Tarbes
Biarritz
NAVARRA PYRENEES ANDORRA Perpignan
Vitoria Canfranc-Estacion PARQUE
RILOAJLAogroñoPamplona Uncastillo Jaca HuDNeEPsAc AOCaRIROQDNUEAESLA ANIGACCÜIEOASNTTOAALR TLDEEUSNYA Girona FiguPoerretbsouCosta Brava
N
Soria RAG Ó Zaragoza Lleida Ldleo rMetar
A
Barcelona
AlcañRiizo Ebro Tortosa MontDblealntac TarragonaCosta Dorada
del Ebro
D
SIERRA DE ALBATeRrRuAeClÍN MUNINDCAIANA Menorca
Cuenca CO LE Mallorca Ciutadella
VA Castellón Alcudia Maó
CostadelAzahar Palma MAanrtaacor
Valencia
Ibiza
Sant Antoni
Albacete Gandia
Ibiza Town
San Francesc Formentera
Xavier
MURCIA Alicanteosta Blanca
Murcia C
Lorca N S E A
Cartagena N E A
A
Mojácar M E DIT E R R Metres
PARQUE
NACIONAL 3000
Almería DE CABO DE
GATA 2000
1000
500
ALGERIA
200
100
0
8 INTRODUCTION
Not only are Spain’s modern cities and towns
FACT FILE
lively and exciting, they are monumental
• Spain’s land area is around half a
– literally so. History has washed over the country,
million square kilometres – about
twice the size of the UK or adding an architectural backdrop that varies from
Oregon. The population is one region to another, dependent on their
around 46 million – some eighty
occupation by Romans, Visigoths or Moors, or on
percent of whom declare
themselves nominally Catholic, their role in the medieval Christian Reconquest or
though religious observance is in the later Golden Age of imperial Renaissance
patchy.
Spain. Touring Castilla y León, for example, you
• Politically, Spain is a can’t avoid the stereotypical Spanish image of vast
parliamentary monarchy;
cathedrals and hundreds of reconquista castles,
democracy was restored in 1977,
after the death of General Franco, while the gorgeous medieval university city of
the dictator who seized power in Salamanca captivates all who visit. In northerly,
the Civil War of 1936–39.
mountainous Asturias and the Pyrenees, tiny,
• Spaniards read fewer almost organically evolved, Romanesque churches
newspapers than almost any dot the hillsides and villages, while in Galicia all
other Europeans – tellingly, the
best-selling daily is Marca, roads lead to the ancient, and heartbreakingly
devoted purely to football. beautiful cathedral city of Santiago de
Compostela. Andalucía has the great mosques and
• Spanish (Castilian) is the main
official language, but sizeable Moorish palaces of Granada, Seville and Córdoba;
percentages also speak variants of Castilla-La Mancha boasts the superbly preserved
Catalan (in Catalunya, parts of
medieval capital of Toledo; while the harsh
Valencia and Alicante provinces,
and on the Balearic Islands), landscape of Extremadura cradles ornate
Galician and Basque, all of conquistador towns built with riches from the
which are also officially
New World.
recognised languages.
The Spanish landscape, too, holds just as much
• A minority of Spaniards attend fascination and variety as the country’s urban
bullfights; it doesn’t rain much
centres. The evergreen estuaries of Galicia could
on the plains; and they only
dance flamenco in the southern hardly be more different from the high, arid plains
region of Andalucía. of Castile, or the gulch-like desert landscapes of
• The highest mountain on the Almería. In particular, Spain has some of the finest
Spanish peninsula is Mulhacén mountains in Europe, with superb walking – short
(3483m), the longest river is the
hikes to week-long treks – in a dozen or more
Rio Tajo (716km).
protected ranges or sierras – especially the Picos de
• Spain has 43 sites on UNESCO’s Europa and the Pyrenees. There are still brown
World Heritage list – more than
bears and lynx in the wild, not to mention boar,
twice as many as the USA.
storks and eagles, while a near-five-thousand-
• Between them Real Madrid kilometre coastline means great opportunities for
and Barcelona have won the
fishing, whale-watching and dolphin-spotting.
Spanish league title over fifty
times and the European Cup Agriculture, meanwhile, makes its mark in the
(Champions League) thirteen patterned hillsides of the wine- and olive-growing
times and counting.
regions, the baking wheat plantations and cattle
FROM TOP GRAN VÍA AT NIGHT, MADRID; BESALÚ, CATALUNYA >