Fodor's Choice

Lodging

$$$$AC Santo Mauro. This intimate, luxurious, turn-of-the-20th-century mansion has neoclassical architecture and contemporary style.

$$$$Orfila. This elegant 1886 town house on a leafy street was famous for theater performances in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The restaurant, garden, and tearoom have period furniture; guest rooms are draped with striped and floral silks.

$$-$$$Hotel Intur Palacio San Martín. Between the dome-glassed atrium, ornately carved ceilings, spacious rooms, and an unbeatable location across from the celebrated Convent of Descalzas, this place exudes a charming old-world glory.

Restaurants

$$$-$$$$El Chaflán. Juan Pablo Felipe, one of the heralds of Spain's new modern cuisine, is a master of innovation. Come for the annual white truffle sampler week, but anytime you visit you can expect new and sophisticated dishes.

$$$-$$$$La Broche. Among the best in town are Sergi Arola's unusual hot-cold, surf-turf dishes. During the course of your meal you can expect to progress from light to dark, fish to foie, seafood to tenderloin.

$$$-$$$$Zalacaín. This place introduced nouvelle Basque cuisine to Spain in the 1970s and has since become a classic. From the variety of fungi and game meat to the hard-to-find seafood served, the food here is wonderfully unusual.

$$-$$$Botín. The Guinness Book of Records calls this the world's oldest restaurant (1725), and Hemingway called it the best. Expect excellent roast pig and lamb, in addition to many other popular dishes.

$-$$Casa Ciriaco. As evidenced by the kings, queens, prime ministers, bullfighters, painters, and poets who have dined at this unpretentious restaurant, the home-cooked partridge with broadbeans and the hen in almond sauce are excellent.

$-$$La Trucha. This magical, jovial little Andalusian bistro decorated with hanging hams is a place of fun and fine temptations: garlicky trout, crispy squid, smoked-fish delicacies, and pitchers of claret.

Churches, Monasteries & Mosques

Convento de la Encarnacion. This Augustinian convent was founded in 1611 by the wife of Felipe III. It holds several artistic treasures, including a reliquary holding a vial containing the dried blood of St. Pantaleon.

San Nicolas de las Servitas. This church tower is one of the oldest buildings in Madrid, dating back, it is believed, to 1085. Exhibits inside detail the Islamic history of early Madrid.

Templo de Debod. This authentic 4th-century BC Egyptian temple was donated to Spain in gratitude for its technical assistance with the construction of the Aswan Dam.

Museums & Masterpieces

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Besides housing Picasso's famous Guernica, the modern art collection focuses on Spain's three great modern masters -- Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Miró.

Prado. One of the greatest museums in the world, the Prado holds masterpieces by various Italian and Flemish painters, but its jewels are the works of Spaniards: Goya, Velázquez, and El Greco.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. An ambitious collection of 800 paintings traces the development of Western humanism as no other in the world, with examples from every important movement, from the 13th-century Italian Gothic through 20th-century American pop art.

Parks & Gardens

Botanical Garden. Created by King Carlos III, the garden, near the Prado, is filled with many grand trees, rolling lawns, and cacti from around the world.

Museo Sorolla. Spain's most famous impressionist painter, Joaquin Sorolla, lived and worked here for most of his life. Entering this cozy domain, especially the garden, is a bit like entering one of his paintings.

Parque del Retiro. Once the private playground of royalty, Madrid's crowning park is a vast expanse of green encompassing formal gardens, fountains, lakes, outdoor cafes, and more.

Best in 3 Days Itinerary

Day 1

On the first day, see the works of Spain's great masters at the Museo del Prado; then visit the Palacio Real for a regal display of art, architecture, and history. The palace tour includes admission to the Royal Library and Royal Armory, both sights in their own right. If you have any time at the end of the day, spend it wandering.

Day 2

Stroll from Paseo de la Castellana to Paseo del Prado to see the fountains at Plaza Colón: Fuente de la Cibeles and Fuente de Neptuno. Behold the Puerta del Sol, then relax at an outdoor café on the Plaza Mayor. Finally, pop into some of the historic tapas bars along Cava de San Miguel.

Day 3

On your third day, visit the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Try not to miss the 16th-century Convento de las Descalzas Reales. Explore the Mudéjar architecture and flamboyant plateresque decoration of medieval Madrid in the Plaza de la Villa and around the Plaza de la Paja.

A Good Walk: Old Madrid

The narrow streets of old Madrid wind back through the city's history to its beginnings as an Arab fortress. Madrid's historic quarters are not so readily apparent as the ancient neighborhoods of Toledo and Segovia, nor are they so grand, but make time to explore their quiet, winding alleys.

The Walk

Start in the Plaza Mayor. Looking up at the playfully erotic mural on the Casa de la Panadería (Bakery House, named for its former role as Madrid's medieval bread dispensary), exit under the arch to the far left and walk down Ciudad Rodrigo; then turn left. Across the street is the restored San Miguel market; down Cava de San Miguel (under Plaza Mayor), on both sides of the street, you'll find plenty of rustic, if touristy, tapas bars. As Cava de San Miguel becomes Calle Cuchilleros, look to the left for Botín, Madrid's oldest restaurant and a onetime Hemingway haunt. Curvy Cuchilleros was once a moat just outside the city walls.

The plaza with the bright murals at the intersection of Calle Segovia is called Puerta Cerrada, or Closed Gate, for the (always closed) city gate that once stood here. The mural up to the left reads, "Fui sobre agua edificada; mis muros de fuego son" ("I was built on water; my walls are made of fire"), a reference to the city's origins as a fortress with abundant springs and its ramparts made of silex, the kind of flint that creates sparks. Across the square to the right is Calle del Nuncio, leading to the Palacio de la Nunciatura (Palace of the Nunciat), which once housed the Pope's ambassadors to Spain. The palace isn't open, but you can peek inside the Renaissance garden.

Nuncio widens and on your left at No. 17 is the Taberna de Cien Vinos; sample some Spanish wine there. Opposite is the church of San Pedro el Viejo (St. Peter the Elder), one of Madrid's oldest, with a Mudéjar tower. Bear right and enter Príncipe Anglona to enter Plaza de la Paja. Down on the right is the ramped Costanilla de San Andrés, which leads to Calle Segovia and a view of the viaduct above. Look down the narrow Calle Príncipe Anglona to see the Mudéjar tower on the church of San Pedro. The brick tower was reportedly built in 1354 following the Christian reconquest of Algeciras, near Gibraltar.

At the top of Plaza de la Paja is the church of San Andrés; past the church, turn right after Plaza de los Carros into Plaza Puerta de Moros, then down Carrera San Francisco to visit the Basílica de San Francisco el Grande. Backtrack and turn left after San Andrés down Cava Baja, packed with bars and restaurants. Casa Lucio, at No. 35, is said to be a favorite of King Juan Carlos I; Casa Lucas at No. 30 is a great place to have imaginative tapas; and Julián de Tolosa at No. 18 has fine Basque fare. Continue across Puerta Cerrada and up Calle Cuchilleros to return to Plaza Mayor.

Timing:

This two-hour walk requires some short uphill climbs through the winding streets. Allow ample time for stops to absorb some café and terrace life -- especially in summer, when heat will be a factor.

A Good Walk: Central Madrid

Begin at the Puerta del Sol, the center of Madrid. If you stand with your back to the clock, Calle Arenal is the second street from the far left leaving the plaza: walk down Arenal and turn right into Plaza Celenque. Up on your left, at the corner with Calle Misericordia, is the Convento de las Descalzas Reales. Follow Misericordia and turn left into the charming Plaza de San Martín to return to Calle Arenal. Turn right and walk down to Plaza Isabel II; then cross the plaza to your right and walk to the end of the short Calle de Arrieta, at which point you'll face the Convento de la Encarnación. Turn left here into Calle Pavia (off Calle San Quintin) and you'll enter the Plaza de Oriente.

Here you have a choice of going directly to the Palacio Real, to your right, or visiting its gardens (1 km [½ mi] farther on) and/or taking a cable-car ride. For the latter, cross Calle Bailén and walk to the right: you'll have a view across the formal Jardines Sabatini to the Casa de Campo park and the Guadarrama Mountains. Walk up Bailén, avoiding the overpass, and turn left down Cuesta de San Vicente, then left into Paseo Virgen del Puerto for the entrance to the gardens and the Campo del Moro.

To see the Egyptian Templo de Debod, cross the overpass to Calle Ferraz and follow the Parque del Oeste on the left. Farther along Paseo de Pintor Rosales, in the park, is the Teleférico (cable car) to the Casa de Campo, which grants panoramic views of Madrid. Opposite the Royal Palace on the Plaza de Oriente is the Teatro Real. Walking down Bailén with the palace on your right, you can enter its huge courtyard and admire the view from atop the escarpment. Alongside the palace is the Catedral de la Almudena. Walk past the cathedral and turn right onto Calle Mayor: on your left, on Cuesta de la Vega, are the remains of Madrid's Arab Wall.

Walk back east up Calle Mayor, crossing Bailén. Turn left onto Calle San Nicolás to see the church of San Nicolás de los Servitas. Return to Calle Mayor and press ahead: on your right you'll see the Plaza de la Villa, with Madrid's city hall on the right. Farther up Mayor, bear right on Plaza Morenas and enter the Plaza Mayor through the arch.

The Andalusian Torre de Oro bar on the left displays gory pictures of bullfights not for the squeamish. On the far side, at No. 33, is the restaurant El Soportal, which gives the plaza's best free tapas with each drink order. (Beware of prices at the other restaurants, especially if you sit outside.) Exit the plaza to the left of El Soportal and head down Calle de Postas and back to the Puerta del Sol. Proceed up the right side of Sol, past the headquarters of the regional government, and in winter consider having a traditional caldo (broth) in the charming old shop at the restaurant Lhardy on Carrera de San Jerónimo.

Timing:

Without side trips to the palace gardens or the cable car, you can cover this ground in two hours. Set aside an additional morning or afternoon to visit the Royal Palace.

A Good Walk: Art Museums

Madrid's three art museums are all within walking distance of one another via the Paseo del Prado. The Paseo was designed by King-Mayor Carlos III as a leafy nature walk with glorious fountains and a botanical garden for respite in scorching summers. As you walk east down Carrera de San Jerónimo toward the Paseo del Prado, consider that this was the route followed by Ferdinand and Isabella more than 500 years ago toward the church of San Jerónimo el Real. The Paseo del Arte (art pass) allows you to visit the three museums for EUR8. You can buy it at any of the three museums.

The Walk

Exit the Puerta del Sol onto Calle de Alcalá, and you'll find on your left the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Take the next right, past the elegant bank buildings, onto Calle Sevilla and turn left at Plaza Canalejas -- where La Violeta, at No. 6, sells violet-flavor sweets -- onto Carrera de San Jerónimo. (If you cross the plaza onto Calle Príncipe, you'll reach the Plaza Santa Ana tapas area.) Walk down San Jerónimo to Plaza de las Cortés.

The granite building on the left, its stairs guarded by bronze lions, is the Congreso, lower house of Las Cortes, Spain's parliament. Walk past the landmark Westin Palace on the right to the Fuente de Neptuno in the wide Paseo del Prado -- the Museo del Prado is across the boulevard to the right. On your left is the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, and across the plaza on the left is the elegant Ritz hotel, alongside the obelisk dedicated to all those who have died for Spain. Either tackle one or both of these museums now, or continue strolling.

Turning right and walking south on Paseo del Prado, you'll see the Jardín Botánico on the left and eventually Estación de Atocha, a railway station said to resemble the overturned hull of a ship. It's worth a quick visit for its humid indoor park with tropical trees, benches, paths, and a restaurant. Across the traffic circle, the immense pile of painted tiles and winged statues houses Spain's Ministry of Agriculture. The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, site of Picasso's Guernica, is in the building with the exterior glass elevators, best accessed by walking up Calle Atocha from the station and taking the first left.

Retracing your steps to the Fuente de Neptuno, turn right and walk between the Ritz and the Prado. Straight ahead you'll see the Casón del Buen Retiro, on its left the Museo del Ejército, and farther on the cloister of the church of San Jerónimo el Real and the vast Parque del Retiro.

Back at the fountain again, turn left and walk up the left side of Paseo del Prado (or, even better, the leafy central promenade) past the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza to the Plaza de la Cibeles, surrounded by the Palacio de Comunicaciones, the Banco de España, and the Casa de América. Turn right at Cibeles, walk up Calle Alcalá, and you'll see Madrid's unofficial symbol: the Puerta de Alcalá, and, again, the Parque del Retiro. About 100 yards north of Cibeles, on the Paseo de Recoletos, you'll see a grand yellow mansion on the right -- now a bank headquarters, this was once the home of the Marquis of Salamanca, who at the turn of the 20th century built the exclusive shopping and residential neighborhood (northeast of here) that now bears his name. Continue north for the Museo Arqueológico, which adjoins the National Library, and the Plaza Colón. If you're an art buff, press on to the Museo Sorolla and Museo Lázaro Galdiano.

Timing:

With a visit to the Reina Sofía and the Parque del Retiro, you can do this walk in three to four hours. Set aside a morning or an afternoon each to return to the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Tapas, a Moveable Feast

Next to paintings, Madrid's tapas may be the city's most creative and irresistible attraction. Originally a lid used to tapar (cover or close) a glass of wine, a tapa is a kind of hors d'oeuvre that often comes free with a drink. (The term supposedly came from pieces of ham or cheese laid across glasses of wine -- to keep flies out and to keep stagecoach drivers sober.) The history of tapas goes back to the 781-year (7th- to 15th-century) Moorish presence on the Iberian Peninsula. The Moors brought with them exotic ingredients, such as saffron, almonds, and peppers. They introduced sweets and pastries, and created refreshingly cold almond- and vegetable-based soups, still popular today. The Moorish taste for small and varied delicacies has in fact become Spain's best-known culinary innovation.

Often miniature versions of classic Spanish dishes, tapas allow you to sample different kinds of food and wine with minimal alcohol poisoning, especially on a tapeo, the Spanish version of a pub crawl: you walk off your wine and tapas as you move from bar to bar. Most restaurants have tapas bars where you can test the food without committing to a sit-down meal. Here are a few standards to watch for: croquetas (deep fried minced chicken or ham), tortilla de patata (Spanish potato omelet), chorizo (hard pork sausage), gambas (shrimp grilled or cooked in parsley, oil, and garlic), patatas bravas (potatoes in spicy sauce), and boquerones en vinagre (fresh anchovies marinated in salt and vinegar). The best place to start a tapa tour is in and around Plaza Santa Ana or Cava Baja in the La Latina neighborhood.

The Spanish Menu

Spain's post-Franco cultural Renaissance has encouraged richness and diversity in everything from arts and letters to gastronomy. As with all things Iberian, food and wine take a great many forms. This is a country where each valley and village takes pride in its unique way of preparing the simplest dishes, where a Pyrenean valley serves dishes whose very names are linguistically incomprehensible to fellow Catalans from the next valley.

Each of modern Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities, from the equatorial Canary Islands to the snowcapped Pyrenees, has its own cuisine. The only Spanish dishes that might be called universal are the tortilla española de patatas (potato and onion omelette), gazpacho (a cold Andalusian soup of ground vegetables, garlic, and bread in a tomato base), and paella (a Valencian feast of saffron-spiked rice and seafood). Generally speaking, central Spain is known for roasts and stews, eastern Spain for rice and seafood dishes, northern Spain for meat and fish, and southern Spain for deep-fried seafood. Fresh vegetables, onions, and garlic are consumed in abundance throughout.

Blessed with a geological diversity unusual for a country its size, Spain has been known since ancient times for rich wheat fields, vineyards, olive groves, and pig and sheep farming. The upper slopes of Andalusia's snowcapped Sierra Nevada, for example, have Alpine gentian, while the lower ones yield tropical produce unique to southern Europe, such as olives.

Nearly surrounded by a combination of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Spain is in large part a maritime nation. A statistic surprising to all but the Spanish themselves is that Spain ranks third in the world in per-capita fish and seafood consumption, closely behind Japan and Iceland. Moreover, those two islands have no population more than 200 km (120 mi) from the coast, whereas Spanish villagers in tiny Aranda de Duero, 500 km (300 mi) inland, were cooking fish back in the 14th century. Madrid, at the dead center of the Iberian Peninsula, has long been considered a first "port" for the freshest fish in Spain. And, of course, the Mediterranean diet -- high in fresh vegetables, fruit, virgin olive oil, fish, fowl, rabbit, garlic, onions, and wine; low in red meat, dairy products, and carbohydrates -- is one of the healthiest of all regimes.

Small and Varied Delicacies

The 781-year Moorish presence on the Iberian Peninsula was a major influence on Spanish cuisine. The Moors brought exotic ingredients such as saffron, almonds, and peppers; introduced sweets and pastries; and created refreshing dishes such as cold almond- and vegetable-based soups still popular today. One of the world's culinary pioneers was Ziryab, a 10th-century Moorish chef who worked in Córdoba: he is credited with bringing to Europe the Arab fashion for eating a standard sequence of dishes, beginning with soup and ending with dessert.

Another legacy of the Moorish taste for small and varied delicacies is Spain's best-known culinary innovation, the tapa (hors d'oeuvre; derived from the verb tapar, meaning to cover). Early tapas are said to have been pieces of ham or cheese laid across glasses of wine, both to keep flies out and to keep stagecoach drivers sober. It is said that as far back as the 13th century, ailing Spanish king Alfonso X El Sabio ("The Learned") took small morsels with wine by medical prescription and so enjoyed the cure that he made it a regular practice in his court. Even Cervantes refers to tapas as llamativos (attention getters), for their stimulating properties, in Don Quixote. Often miniature versions of classic Spanish dishes, tapas originated in Andalusia, where a combination of heat and poverty made nomadic grazing preferable to the formal meal. Today tapas are generally taken as appetizers before lunch or dinner, but in the south they are still often regarded as a meal in themselves. Eating tapas allows you to sample a wide variety of food and wine with minimal alcohol poisoning, especially on a tapeo -- the Spanish version of a pub crawl but lower in alcohol and higher in protein. You basically walk off your wine and tapas as you move around.

In some of the more old-fashioned bars in Madrid and points south, you may be automatically served a tapa of the barman's choice upon ordering a drink -- olives, a piece of cheese, sausages, or even a cup of hot broth. A few standard tapas to watch for: calamares fritos (fried squid or cuttlefish, often mistaken for onion rings), pulpo feira (octupus on slices of potato), chopitos (baby octopi), angulas (baby eels), chistorra (fried spicy sausage), chorizo (hard pork sausage), champiñones (mushrooms), gambas al ajillo (shrimp cooked in parsley, oil, and garlic), langostinos (jumbo shrimp or prawns), patatas bravas (potatoes in spicy sauce), pimientos de Padrón (peppers, some very hot, from the Galician town of Padrón), sardinas (fresh sardines cooked in garlic and parsley), chancletes (whitebait cooked in oil and parsley), and salmonetes (small red mullet).

Just to complicate things, the generic term tapas covers various forms of small-scale nibbling. Tentempiés are, literally, small snacks to designed to "keep you on your feet."Pinchos are bite-size offerings impaled on toothpicks; banderillas are similar, so called because the toothpick is wrapped in colorful paper resembling the barbed batons used in bullfights. Montaditos are canapés, innovative combinations of delicacies "mounted" on toast; raciones (rations, or servings) are hot tapas served in small earthenware casseroles. The preference for small quantities of different dishes also shows up in restaurants, where you can often order a series of small dishes para picar (to pick at). A selection of raciones or entretenimientos (a platter of delicacies that might range from olives to nuts to cheese, ham or sausage) makes a popular starter for those dining in a group. The modern gourmet menú de degustación (taster's menu) is little more than a succession of complex tapas.

Soups, Light and Heavy

A standard Spanish soup, especially in and around Madrid, is sopa de ajo (garlic soup), made with water, oil, garlic, paprika, bread, and cured ham. Sopa de pescado (fish soup) appears on many menus, prepared in many different ways. The classic gazpacho is a cold blend of tomatoes, water, garlic, bread, and vegetables. Though most gazpacho today is made in a blender, it tastes best when prepared by hand in an earthenware mortar. There are several variations on gazpacho, including salmorejo, which comes from Córdoba and has a denser texture, and ajo blanco, based on almonds rather than tomatoes and served with peeled muscatel grapes or slices of honeydew melon -- another example of Moorish influence, combining sweet and spicy flavors.

Far more substantial are the heavy soups and bean stews of the central Castilian meseta (plain) and northern coast. Cocidomadrileño is a hearty highland stew or thick soup of garbanzos, black sausage, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, pork, and chicken served in three courses, called vuelcos ("overturnings" of the pot): the broth, the vegetables and legumes, and finally the meat. Escudella is the Catalan version of cocido, using ground pork and no garbanzos. Fabada asturiana is the best-known Asturian dish, a powerful stew of white kidney beans, fatback, ham, black sausage, and hard pork sausage. Judias estofadas, made of white kidney beans with chorizo, black sausage, onion, tomato, and bacon, is a close cousin found across the north of Spain. Pisto manchego, from La Mancha, is a stew of sausage and ham with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and squash. Migas de pastor (shepherd's crumbs) is a legendary Aragonese and Castilian specialty consisting of bread crumbs and bacon sautéed in garlic and olive oil. Don't miss a chance to try marmitako, a hearty tuna and potato stew, during one of the Basque country's frequent Atlantic storms.

Kind to Carnivores

Spain is kind to carnivores, who can choose from thick and tender txuletas de buey or solomillos (beef steaks) in the Basque country and fragrant roasts in Castile. In Segovia, Burgos, and Madrid, the cochinillo al horno (roast suckling pig) and cordero asado (roast lamb) are cooked in wood ovens until at once crisp and tender enough to portion out with the edge of a blunt plate.

Fish and seafood are prepared countless ways in Spain, but the Basques and the Andalusians are particular masters of the art. The Basque country is known for txangurro (stuffed king crab) and, especially, bacalao al pil-pil -- cod cooked in oil and garlic at a low temperature, generating a sauce of juice from the fish itself. (The dish is named for the popping sound that the oil makes as the fish cooks.) Besugo (sea bream), either al horno (roasted) or a la brasa (over coals), is another Basque fish classic. Rape (angler fish) in sauce; merluza (hake) in tomato, pepper, or green (olive oil, garlic, and parsley) sauce; and dorada (gilthead bream) a la sal (baked in salt) are also popular. Common all over Spain is trucha a la Navarra, trout wrapped in, or stuffed with, pieces of bacon or ham. In Andalusia most fish is deep-fried in batter, a practice requiring very fresh fish and the right kind of oil to achieve the proper counterpoint of crispness and succulence. Chancletes (whitebait) and sardinas (sardines) are especially good in Málaga, while the salmonetes (red mullet) and acedías (miniature sole) of the Cádiz coast are legendary. Adobo, also delicious, is fried fish marinated in wine.

Spanish ham and sausage products are renowned, particularly those derived from the cerdo ibérico, a remarkable breed of free-range pig that produces jamón serrano -- roughly translatable as "ham from the sierra or mountains." This term covers three levels of quality: bellota (the finest, from pigs fed exclusively acorns), de recebo (from pigs fed acorns but finished off with corn over the last three months), and simply serrano (from pigs fattened on feed pellets). Extremadura and the provinces of Salamanca and Huelva produce Spain's best cured hams; look for those of Hijuelo, Lasa, and Jabugo. The chorizo (hard pork sausage) and morcilla (blood sausage) of Pamplona, Granada, and Burgos are known beyond Spain. Sobrasada is a delicious pork-and-pepper paste from Majorca. Fuet (literally, "whip," named for its slender shape) is Catalonia's best sausage, although the botifarra is Catalonia's most emblematic and universal spicy sausage, usually consumed with secas or mongetes (white beans), a popular Catalan dish.

The country's most sophisticated and elaborate poultry dishes are prepared in the Catalan province of Girona. These include pollastre amb llangosta (chicken with lobster), gall dindi amb panses, pinyones, i botifarra (turkey stuffed with raisins, pine nuts, and sausage), and oca (anec) amb naps (goose, or duck, with turnips). Pollo al ajillo, fried chunks of chicken smothered in chips of garlic, is beloved all over Spain. Rabbit is another standard light meat, prepared either al ajillo (in garlic), a la brasa (roasted over coals), or in stews and ragouts with peppers and assorted vegetables.

Fish, meat, and seafood meet exuberantly in paella, a saffron-flavored rice dish widely considered the most emblematic of Spanish dishes. The dish is actually comparatively new, having originated in Valencia and the Levante, Spain's rice-growing eastern coastal plain, in the early 19th century. Paella is cooked in a wide, flat, round pan and has many versions, including marinera (seafood), conejo (rabbit), pollo (chicken), and mixta (mixed). Chosen from a menú del día, paella will always be disappointing, little more than rice with some saffron and a few ingredients mixed in. Prepared on the spot and in the pan for anywhere from two to two hundred, with a caramelized crust around its edges, paella is invariably delicious. The archetypal version is paella a la marinera, a seafood anthology including shrimp, crayfish, monkfish, and mussels on a bed of saffron rice cooked in a seafood broth with peppers and tomatoes. Related dishes include arroz abanda, a paella with the seafood pre-shelled; fideuà, paella based on pasta rather than rice; and arroz negro (black rice), paella that takes its color and flavor from cuttlefish ink instead of saffron.

Spanish cheeses are many and varied. The cheeses of La Mancha can be consumed tierno (soft and creamy, cured under three months), semi-seco (half-cured, for three to six months), or seco (dry, cured for more than six months). A mature manchego seco is nearly the equal of an Italian Parmesan. Cabrales, a powerful sheep's cheese from Asturias, makes a Roquefort seem innocent. Other prominent northern cheeses include the soft and creamy breast-shaped tetilla gallega and the sharper Asturian pitu al' fuego. The Basque country's smoky idiazábal is like a cedar-flavored sharp cheddar.

Spanish Wines Emerge from the Shadows

Spanish wines are rapidly emerging from the long shadow cast by their neighbors to the north. La Rioja is justly considered Spain's finest winegrowing region. The deep, woody flavor of its celebrated reds comes from up to eight years of aging in casks of American oak, usually preferred over French oak for its superior porosity and faster oxidating properties. This aging technique was introduced by French vintners from Bordeaux and Burgundy who moved to the Rioja in the 19th century to escape a phylloxera epidemic that was destroying the vines in their own country. Among the better Rioja labels are Rioja Alta, Viña Ardanza, Imperial, Muga, Marqués de Murrieta, Pomal, Ramón Bilbao, Marqués de Riscal, and Viña Tondonia.

Southwest of Valladolid, the Rueda winegrowing district produces some of Spain's most distinguished white wines, and Huesca's Somontano wines, especially the Enate and Señorío de Lazán labels, are rapidly gaining respect. The Valdepeñas wine country, 200 km (120 mi) south of Madrid, remains Spain's prime producer of simple table wines in unabashedly greater quantity than quality. That said, a pitcher of Valdepeñas with a meal or a round of tapas in and around Castile is never disappointing.

Catalonia's Penedès region specializes in cava (sparkling white wine). The most famous cavas are Codorniu and Freixenet, but many smaller outfits, such as Juvé i Camps, Augustí Torelló, Mascaró, and Gramona, actually produce better bubbly. Along with the Torres reds and whites and the Raventós cavas and whites, the Penedès produces Spain's greatest variety of wines overall. New artisanal wines, however, are steadily emerging from such unlikely places as the rugged hills of the Priorat area, west of Tarragona; the Costers de Siurana labels Clos de l'Obac and Miserere are standouts. The Raimat wines from Costers del Segre are excellent, as are the Gran Caus, the Castillo Perelada, and the exciting new Oliver Conti wines from northern Catalonia's Ampurdán region.

Many Spanish oenophiles favor wines from La Ribera del Duero, north of Madrid. This increasingly prestigious region produces excellent bottles of both young wine and wine that will improve with age. Vega Sicilia is the most famous winery in La Ribera del Duero; Pesquera, Protos, and Viña Pedrosa are other reputable labels.

Galicia's Ribeiro and Rías Baixas wines, especially the young green Albariños, are increasingly served in top restaurants throughout Spain with appetizers and fish courses. The Basque country's txakolí, an even greener young white with a slight effervescence, has always been popular locally but is now gaining a real following as Basque restaurants and tapas bars flourish all over Spain.

Sherry has always been popular abroad, especially with the British, who have dominated the sherry trade in Jerez de la Frontera since the 16th century. Indeed, many of the most famous labels are foreign -- Domecq, Harvey, Sandeman. The classic dry sherry is the fino.Amontillado is deeper in color and flavor, and oloroso is really a sweet dessert wine, as are the even-sweeter creams. Another fortified Andalusian wine, often difficult for the inexperienced palate to distinguish from sherry, is manzanilla, from the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Manzanilla has a tangy, saline savor that comes from the cool Atlantic breezes at the mouth of the Guadalquívir River. With its faint taste of the sea, this wine does not travel well; there are even those who believe it tastes better in the lower part of Sanlúcar than in the upper town. Sherry and manzanilla are generally thought of as aperitif wines and are ideal with tapas. A Sanlúcar prawn with a glass of manzanilla is many a Spanish epicurean's idea of paradise. In England, sherry still has the genteel associations of an Oxbridge college, but Spain has a more robust attitude toward the beverage, especially during Sevilla's Feria de Abril, where more sherry and manzanilla are reputedly drunk in a week than in the whole of Spain the rest of the year.

Some of Spain's finest brandies, such as Osborne, Terry, Duque de Alba, and Carlos III, also come from Jerez. Málaga makes a sweet dessert wine that enjoyed a vogue with the English in the l9th century; look for the label Scholtz. Aguardientes (aquavits) are manufactured throughout Spain, with the most famous brands coming from Chinchón, near Madrid. A sweet and popular Jerez brandy, Ponche Caballero, is easy to identify by its silver-coated bottle, which looks like an amateur explosive. Sangría, a tourist potion imported from Mexico, is generally composed of cheap liquors and bad wine and should be avoided at all costs by those in search of Spanish delicacies.

Spain's gourmet restaurants offer a selection of postprandial cheeses, but most meals end with dessert. Standard enticements are fresh fruit, such as strawberries with orange juice or vanilla ice cream, and flan, a caramel cream that comes close to being Spain's national dessert. In Catalonia, look for the ubiquitous crema catalana, a sort of crème brûlée, or the honey-and-fresh-cheese combination known as mel i mató.

The main problem with food and wine in Spain -- perhaps an ironic one, in light of Spain's not-so-distant past -- may be their very abundance. Dining heartily twice a day and taking full advantage of the tapas hour requires some management. The Spanish, looking forward to a substantial midday meal after having finished dinner late the previous night, breakfast on little more than coffee and a roll. Lunch, served between 2 and 4 in the afternoon -- preceded by an aperitivo -- is generally considered the main meal of the day. The workday lasts until at least 8, after which it's time for the itinerant tapeo. Finally, often after 10, comes dinner, which is often festive and can last until the wee hours. The traveler's key to surviving this delicious but demanding regimen is to partake zestily of tapas in the early evening -- roam freely and you'll soon fill up on cleverly arrayed items from all four food groups. After all, Spain is the ultimate moveable feast.

Side Trip to El Escorial & Valle de los Caídos

Felipe II was one of history's most deeply religious and forbidding monarchs -- not to mention one of its most powerful -- and the great granite monastery that he had constructed in a remarkable 21 years (1563-84) is an enduring testament to his character. Outside Madrid in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama, the Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Royal Monastery of St. Lawrence of Escorial, Royal Monastery of St. Lawrence of Escorial) is severe, rectilinear, and unforgiving -- one of the most gigantic yet simple architectural monuments on the Iberian Peninsula.

Felipe built the monastery in the village of San Lorenzo de El Escorial to commemorate Spain's crushing victory over the French at Saint-Quentin on August 10, 1557, and as a final resting place for his all-powerful father, the Holy Roman Emperor Carlos V. He filled the place with treasures as he ruled the largest empire the world has ever seen, knowing all the while that a marble coffin awaited him in the pantheon deep below. The building's vast rectangle, encompassing 16 courts, is modeled on the red-hot grille upon which St. Lawrence was martyred -- appropriate enough, since August 10 was that saint's day. (It's also said that Felipe's troops accidentally destroyed a church dedicated to St. Lawrence during the battle and he sought to make amends.) Some years ago a Spanish psychohistorian theorized that the building is shaped like a prone woman and is thus an unintended emblem of Felipe's sexual repression. Lo and behold, this thesis provoked several newspaper articles and a rash of other commentary.

El Escorial is easily reached by car, train, bus, or organized tour from Madrid; simply inquire at a travel agency or the appropriate station. The building and its adjuncts -- a palace, museum, church, and more -- can take hours or even days to tour. Easter Sunday's candlelit midnight mass draws crowds, as does the summer tourist season.

The monastery was begun by Juan Bautista de Toledo but finished in 1584 by Juan de Herrera, who would eventually give his name to a major Spanish architectural school. It was completed just in time for Felipe to die here, gangrenous and tortured by the gout that had plagued him for years, in the tiny, sparsely furnished bedroom that resembled a monk's cell more than the resting place of a great monarch. It is in this bedroom -- which looks out, through a private entrance, into the royal chapel -- that one most appreciates the man's spartan nature. Spain's later Bourbon kings, such as Carlos III and Carlos IV, had clearly different tastes, and their apartments, connected to Felipe's by the Hall of Battles, are far more luxurious.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the entire Escorial is the Panteón de los Reyes (Royal Pantheon), which contains the body of every king since Carlos I save three -- Felipe V (buried at La Granja), Ferdinand VI (in Madrid), and Amadeus of Savoy (in Italy). The body of Alfonso XIII, who died in Rome in 1941, was brought to El Escorial in January 1980. The rulers' bodies lie in 26 sumptuous marble and bronze sarcophagi that line the walls (three of which are empty, awaiting future rulers). Only those queens who bore sons later crowned lie in the same crypt; the others, along with royal sons and daughters who never ruled, lie nearby, in the Panteón de los Infantes. Many of the royal children are in a single circular tomb made of Carrara marble.

Another highlight is the monastery's surprisingly lavish and colorful library, with ceiling paintings by Michelangelo disciple Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-96). The imposing austerity of El Escorial's facades makes this chromatic explosion especially powerful; try to save it for last. The library houses 50,000 rare manuscripts, codices, and ancient books, including the diary of St. Teresa of Ávila and the gold-lettered, illuminated Codex Aureus. Tapestries woven from cartoons by Goya, Rubens, and El Greco cover almost every inch of wall space in huge sections of the building, and extraordinary canvases by Velázquez, El Greco, David, Ribera, Tintoretto, Rubens, and other masters, collected from around the monastery, are now displayed in the Museos Nuevos (New Museums). In the basilica, don't miss the fresco above the choir, depicting heaven, or Titian's fresco The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, which shows the saint being roasted alive. San Lorenzo de El Escorial, El Escorial, Spain. PHONE: 91/890-5905. COST: General admission EUR8; without the Panteón, or after 4:30 EUR7; guided tour EUR9. OPEN: Apr.-Sept., Tues.-Sun. 10-6; Oct.-Mar., Tues.-Sun. 10-5.

Ideal in summer is the outdoor terrace at Charolés (Floridablanca 24, El Escorial, Spain. PHONE: 91/890-5975), where imaginative seasonal dishes (especially grilled meats) round out a menu of northern-Spanish favorites. Just don't expect picnic prices.

For a more contemporary spot with a younger crowd, and a good selection of grilled meats and salads, a cheaper and nearby option is the cozy bistro, La Cañada Real (Florida Blanca 30, El Escorial, Spain. PHONE: 91/890-2703).

Ranked as a not-to-be-missed visit until the death of Generalísimo Francisco Franco in 1975, Valle de los Caídos, a massive monument to fascisms's victory over democracy in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War (Catholicism's victory over Communism to some), has become something of an anachronism in the modern democratic Spain of today. Now relegated to rallying point for the extreme right on key dates, such as the July 18 commemoration of the military uprising of 1936 or the November 20 death of Franco, the Valley of the Fallen is just a few minutes north of El Escorial. A lovely pine forest leads up to a massive basilica carved out of a solid granite mountain. Topped with a cross nearly 500 ft high (accessible by elevator), the basilica holds the tombs of both General Franco and José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the fascist Spanish Falange. It was built with the forced labor of postwar Republican prisoners and dedicated, rather disingenuously, to all who died in the three-year conflict. Tapestries of the Apocalypse add to the generally terrifying air inside as every footstep resounds off the polished marble floors and stone walls. An eerie midnight mass is held here on Easter Sunday, the granite peak lit by candlelight. PHONE: 91/890-5611. COST: Basilica EUR5; combined with a guided tour of El Escorial EUR10; without a guided tour EUR8.50. OPEN: Apr.-Sept., Tues.-Sun. 10-6; Oct. -Mar., Tues.-Sun. 10-5.

When to Go to Madrid

May and October are the best times to come to Spain, as the weather is generally warm and dry. May gives you more hours of daylight, while October offers a chance to enjoy the harvest season, which is especially colorful in the wine regions.

In April you can see some of the country's most spectacular fiestas, particularly Semana Santa (Holy Week); and by then the weather in southern Spain is warm enough to make sightseeing comfortable.

Spain is the number-one destination for European travelers, so if you want to avoid crowds, come before June or after September. Spaniards themselves vacation in August, and their migration causes huge traffic jams on August 1 and 31. Major cities are relaxed and empty for the duration; small shops and some restaurants shut down for the entire month, but museums remain open.

Summers in Spain are hot: temperatures frequently hit 100°F (38°C), and air-conditioning is not widespread. Try to limit summer sightseeing to the morning hours. That said, warm summer nights are among Spain's quiet pleasures.

Winter in Madrid blows bitterly cold. Snow is infrequent except in the mountains. You can ski from December to March in the resorts near Madrid.