The Plaza Mayor is arguably the most important part of a Spanish town or city and I really cannot think of an equivalent in the United Kingdom where we have public squares but use them in an entirely different way.
This is the place where people meet, relax and enjoy themselves; it is generally flanked with shops and restaurants and usually has the town hall and the main church somewhere close by. This is the beating heart of a Spanish community and when we arrive somewhere new it is usually the first place we make for because sitting with a glass of wine and a complimentary tapas it is the best place to be to get a feeling for the town and its people.
On this occasion we were in the provincial town of Almagro and staying at the Hotel Retiro del Maestre, a renovated old Spanish nobleman’s house on a street leading to the main square. It was a friendly family run hotel with spacious and comfortable public rooms, a large outside terrace basking in the sun and was a nice room for us with a view over the garden.
It was late afternoon by this time and with the sun beginning to dip we didn’t linger long but made our way quickly to the Plaza Mayor to find a bar. On the way we passed by the equestrian statue of the Conquistador Diego de Almagro and then entered the rectangular Plaza. At a hundred metres long and forty metres wide and flanked on both sides by arcades of Tuscan columns supporting overhead galleries all painted a uniform shade of bottle green and fully glazed in a central European style this place is truly unique in Spain. These galleries were originally open and used as grandstands for public events, religious festivals and even bullfights that were held here until 1785, when they were finally banned by King Carlos III.
We choose a table on the sunny side of the Plaza, ordered beer and wine and just sat and watched the activity while we nibbled the inevitable olives. The bar owner shooed away some small boys playing football, telling them to play elsewhere and families began to arrive and the bar quickly filled up with chattering customers. Walking around the square was a proud grandmother pushing a young baby in an immaculate pram which matched her pristine outfit and she completed at least a dozen circuits, stopping frequently to chat and to show off the small child to anyone who showed the slightest interest.
In the search for real Spain (not the coasts and the Costas), in the past three years we have visited and enjoyed dozens of Plaza Mayors; Madrid, the largest, Salamanca, the second largest, Toledo, next to its towering cathedral and the tiled Plaza de España in Seville. We liked them all and we began now to compile a list with a view to choosing our top five favourites.
We considered Ávila, Mérida and Valladolid, Cáceres and Santiago de Compostella in Galicia but after a lively debate weighing up the pros and cons and putting forward the case for each one in turn we finally agreed on the top five but could not reach consensus on the actual order.
So this is our list: Segovia in Castilla y Leon because of the Cathedral and the architecture and the little streets running away from it like spokes from a wheel, Trujillo, where we had been only today, because of its unspoilt medieval charm, the unpretentious and functional Ciudad Rodrigo, Chinchón with its open balconies and bullfights and although we had only just arrived we liked this place so much that we both agreed to include Almagro in the list.
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P is for Plaza Major but it could well have been:
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We have of course only been to the first four you list, but love how these spaces come alive at night! In Salamanca the whole town seemed to descend on the square, late evenings to dance!
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Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I only saw Salamanca on a rather cold and overcast day.
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Oi! There is real Spain on the costas too you know! My neighbours (all Spanish) would be most offended to hear they were not ‘real Spain’!
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Well, you know what I mean – the concrete ersatz Spain for the tourists!
A good article in the Daily Telegraph today: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/9260638/Spains-most-indebted-village-pays-the-price-of-its-profligacy.html
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Allegedly local council workers in La Linea haven’t been paid for 18 months! Goodness knows how they are living. Had to laugh at the end of the article, serious local and national crises, appalling unemployment, bailing out the banks as usual – and the biggest disaster? Cancelling the bullfight. Priorities huh?
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All the press emphasis in UK is on Greece but the occasional article like this make things sound grim in Spain. Is it bad in Spain?
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Yes.
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I reccomend this blog to you. You probably won’t like the recipe posts but the social commentary posts are really good: http://homeingreece.wordpress.com/
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OK, will check it out.
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There are quite a lot of veg/vegan recipes on there actually 🙂 I suspect there is a similarity with Spain based on the agricultural communities and the sheer poverty of a lot of people not too long ago (and maybe now as well). The similarities in both the recipes (!) and the social issues are fascinating. Thanks for the link. Always looking out for decent new blogs now topics has been wrecked 😀
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I’m glad you liked it – I thought you might!
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We love Madrid’s Plaza Mayor too, Andrew. So much that last year, we rented an apartment close by. The place is alive to the wee hours of the morning. We were also not far from the Chocolateria San Gines that’s open almost 24 hours, famous for their Churos con chocolate. Ahhh, heaven!
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I’m off Spainwards tomorrow, Andrew, and looking forward to it very much.
Thanks for your previews!
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Thanks Richard – where will you be going?
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Bilbao, then Pamplona, then walking the Camino de Santiago to Logrono and maybe beyond. Any recommendations around there?
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Not really travelled that part of Spain. Two years ago I planned to visit Vitoria from Liendo but it rained so much I abandoned the idea and returned to Cantabria via a very picturesque rural route. I look forward to reading about your visit!
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The weather forecast for Pamplona is good, the bulls will not be running, so a fine time should be had. I have a fair bit of US blogging to finish off, but then Spain should keep me happy for quite a while!
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I can only sigh as I read about your travels in Spain. Thanks so much for sharing.
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I guess the Plaza Mayor is like the Via Roma in Italy – every city has one!
Next week’s trip will be my first visit to Spain. I thank you for doing an A-Z blog on Spain just when I needed it 🙂
Before walking the Camino I’ll be spending three nights and two days in Madrid (at a hotel on Gran Via) which as far as I can tell is in walking distance of the Plaza Mayor and the Prado… Anything I shouldn’t miss?
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