Segovia aqueduct

In recent years Spain has been going through a form of “re-branding” within the Tourism industry. Taking Spain from a sea and sun destination to a more cultural and eclectic country to visit, has not been an easy task. The image of beaches and skyscrapers and overbuilt coastlines still linger in the popular imagination, along with the hordes of Northern European tourists sunning themselves on the Costas.

Nothing wrong with tourists sunning themselves on Spain’s beaches, but in the past several years Spain’s National Tourist Office has been pushing the cultural, gastronomic and more historic side of the country. That side has always been there, but it just needed a little dusting off to show the enormous detail and variety. Given Spain’s rich historical and cultural heritage it was more of a question of what to highlight.

Spain is now rated as a top gastronomical destination, equaling, if not outdoing France with innovative chefs such as Fernan Adria of El Buli or Arzak in San Sebastian.
Spanish wines have come of age, and within the past 20 years Spain has become as dynamic as any new world upstart from Napa or New Zealand.

New Hotels are opening at a rapid pace and more and more attention is being focused on the boutique style property with less then 50 rooms. One group particularly adept at transforming townhouses and small palaces into hotels is Hospes.

Cuenca, with Parador in the forefront

Location, location and luxury
A stone’s throw from the Prado lies a hidden treasure...

In the 19th Century it was a “townhouse,” designed by Jose Maria Aguilar, circa 1883, just across from Madrid’s Retiro Park. The Spanish hotel group Hospes has put it through a delicate, three-year restoration process and then turn it into a 41 room “boutique” hotel.

With a formal opening later this month, Hospes Madrid, has produced a little gem of a hotel, strategically located in between the city’s main shopping district, the Barrio Salamanca, and the “cultural triangle” of the Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofia museums.

Particularly simpatico is that no room is the same and the fourth—and top—floor offers a series of loft-style apartments so unlike a hotel that it gives true meaning to the Spanish expression, “estas en tu casa” or, feel at home.

Hopses is little known outside of Spain, but it operates a diverse and eclectic range of hotels in Spain’s prime tourist destinations. The group is trying to build up their reputation by showing what they can do. Apart from its four star Hotel in Paris (The Lancaster) Hospes is seeking to expand in other parts of Europe, already eyeing Budapest and London.

The Madrid property will soon open its gastronomic restaurant Senzone as well as a Spa (Bodyna Spa) with Oriental and Mediterranean massages, sauna and fitness area.

In a city with few truly excellent and service orientated hotels, Madrid Hospes is a refreshing alternative to the many giant hotel chains.

The Hospes Palacio de los Patos Hotel in Granada recently received the prize for the “Most Excellent European Hotel for Design & Innovation,” one of the annual awards for excellence granted by the prestigious Condé Nast Johansens Group. The hotel is a perfect combination of service and exceptional attention, design and comfort. A five-star property where the interaction between an impressive exterior architecture harmonizes with both the surrounding buildings and the contemporary elegance of its interiors creates a singular space that beckons the traveler to rest and relax. www.hospes.es

Bedroom at Hospes Madrid Hotel

A walk through Madrid’s “cultural triangle”
Tradition and modernity have always gone hand in hand in the Prado. Built near the centrally located Retiro Park almost 200 years ago, the museum brings together under one roof the court painter Velázquez’s lofty and dignified portraits of the royal family and works by Goya, a social critic who portrayed the king and his kin the way they really were. He showed them in all of their ugliness, the faces above their sumptuous robes pompous, vacuous and complacent. The Catholic Church persecuted Goya as a sinner against the divine order of things.

The interplay of old and new continued at the Museo del Prado this year, when Spain’s royal couple unveiled the new extension to the museum designed by the famous architect Rafael Moneo. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia stepped through the classicist main entrance, flanked by imposing columns, and into the palace once built by Juan de Villanueva (1739-1811). They passed Greek sculptures from the museum’s collection before setting eyes on the new ultra-modern architectural work, located two stories above the foyer.

There, the 17th century cloister of the San Jeronimo Church with its Renaissance sculptures of the royal couple’s ancestors’ gleams in mystical light. Moneo had the cloister removed stone by stone, restored and then reassembled in the same spot. Then he placed a minimalist cube above it. The cube is illuminated by daylight channeled through the ceiling and into a glass well that can also be lit from within. The chute, which appears to hover in the middle of the room, funnels the sunlight 18 meters (59 feet) downward.

Moneo has been fiercely criticized for his project, which took six years to complete. The costs soared until they reached the final sum of 152 million ($219 million) -- more than three-and-a-half times the original budget. The architect has modestly hidden his creation behind the Prado’s historical wing so that only visitors entering the museum through the back entrance can see it from outside. The size of the Prado has increased by more than a half thanks to the addition of four exhibition halls, an auditorium, workshops facing the cloister and an archive.

The new Prado extension by Moneo

A visit to Cuenca, home to hanging houses
An easy day excursion from Madrid is the spectacular town of Cuenca. The Eagle’s Nest is the nickname given to Cuenca as it is home to some of Spain’s most historical houses which sit atop a gorge and appear as “hanging houses.” Although only just three remain, the cliff face was once dotted with these structures, precariously perched on the edge of the rock. These remaining houses are now owned by the municipality after the rest were demolished in the 19th century. One of the so-called “hanging houses” is now home to a chic restaurant, while the other is Cuenca’s Museum of Abstract Art.

The City has received UNESCO’s coveted National Heritage Award, and there is a lot more to see and do while visiting. Both the cathedral and San Pedro Church are worth touring, as the latter is built on the remains of a former Mosque.