Valladolid, with about 300,000 inhabitants, is the largest city in Castile and León and seat of the region's institutions. It stands on the Pisuerga river in the middle of the northern meseta, a university and industrial city with a historic centre full of monuments and a great tapas tradition.
History
In the Middle Ages it was one of the Castilian court's favourite seats. Here in 1469 Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, the future Catholic Monarchs, married, Philip II was born and Christopher Columbus died in 1506. In the early 17th century, under Philip III, it was briefly capital of Spain (1601-1606), and Miguel de Cervantes lived here. In 1550-1551 it hosted the famous Valladolid debate between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda on the rights of the native peoples of the Americas.
What to see
- The National Museum of Sculpture, in the College of San Gregorio, with its superb Isabelline Gothic façade: Spain's most important collection of polychrome wooden sculpture, with works by Alonso Berruguete, Juan de Juni and Gregorio Fernández.
- The church of San Pablo, whose carved façade is a Gothic masterpiece.
- The Plaza Mayor, Spain's first regular main square and a model for many others.
- The cathedral, designed by Juan de Herrera, architect of El Escorial, and left unfinished.
- Cervantes's House, where the writer lived in the early 17th century.
- The Columbus House-Museum, devoted to the navigator's voyages.
- The Campo Grande, the central park, with its peacocks.
- The Patio Herreriano Museum of Spanish contemporary art.
Holy Week and festivals
Valladolid's Holy Week, of international tourist interest, is among Spain's most solemn and silent: processions carry through the streets the pasos carved by the great 17th-century masters, the same seen in the Sculpture Museum. September brings the festivities of the Virgen de San Lorenzo, and October SEMINCI, one of Europe's oldest film festivals.
Food and wine
Lechazo asado, milk-fed lamb roasted in a wood oven, is the signature dish. Valladolid sits at the centre of great wine regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda, with its Verdejo whites, Cigales and Toro. A national pinchos competition is held every year.
Getting there
Valladolid is linked to Madrid by high-speed train in about an hour. Villanubla airport is about 12 km away. See also Palencia and Segovia.