Rural Posada Del Rincon

A Night at the Parador de Guadalupe

by garridogal

"Beauty and Atmosphere"

One of the weekend trips I took while studying in Madrid was to the Extremadura region, which is close to Portugal. After stopping in Caceres and other locations, long lost to memories, we settled in for the night at the Parador in Guadalupe.

Arriving by night, we were a little taken aback by the Gothic structure with its predominant towers. I remember that our room was beautiful with cathedral ceilings, modern, yet very Mediterranean in decor.

However, being silly young women we managed to creep ourselves to the point of nervous giggles when the lights were turned out. I don't think it lasted very long, however.

"Feeling the Atmosphere"

The next morning we awoke to explore Guadalupe's charm. It was many moons ago, but the photos help bring back some memories of the town square, a cathedral (Of course!) and a tour of the parador.

Now, why I didn't take any photos of the parador's interiors with it courtyards, museums and gorgeous dining areas, I'll never know.

I'll just have to attribute it to youth and stupidity. (Mine, at least!)

"Staged? Hmm....."

Yeah, the kids were dressed up to look cute and charm the tourists.

It worked!

Guadalupe in Extremadura

by breughel

"Guadalupe "a miracle made history"."

This small town of Extremadura is less visited by foreign visitors that the towns of Caceres and Trujillo but within the Spanish speaking community "Hispanidad" Guadalupe in an extremely important pilgrimage centre. In Spain the Virgen de Guadalupe is as important as Lourdes in France. Fortunately for us as Guadalupe is far away from large towns and hidden in the hills of that eccentric part of Spain which is Extremadura, we did not meet crowds. Guadalupe was rather quiet with only 2500 inhabitants and a few busses of pilgrims.
The country is very nice and green with natural parks.
Except the monastery there is not much to see so that one night is sufficient.

I write that today but the visitors of the 15 - 17th c. would have formally disagreed with me.
Colombus signed here the agreement authorizing his trip to what would be America. Kings, noblemen, conquerors came to the sanctuary of the Black Virgin which dates from the late 13th c.
Guadalupe was a centre of studies in humanities and sciences especially medical sciences. It was here in 1402 that the first dissection of a human corpse in Spain took place but with the special permission of Rome.

Now if we start digging in the history of Guadalupe we might well stay for more than one day!

visit the monastery of Guadalupe -and sleep in it

by angiebabe

"pilgrimage town"

huge monastery of Guadalupe - i stayed in a part thats turned into a beautiful hotel and down through a small corridor out you come into the most stunning courtyard that is in the centre of the huge monastery