The Monastery of El Escorial: Philip II’s palace-convent, fifty kilometres from Madrid

The most recent guides, in order of publication. If you are not sure where to start, the blocks below are sorted by kind of content, and every article appears only once.

the main façade of the liria palace in madrid, long and sand-coloured, with columns, balustrades and statues on the roof, behind a lawn and a large cedar

The Liria Palace: the Dukes of Alba’s home in Madrid, burned in 1936 and open daily since 2019

a long room in the royal collections gallery, with a pale beamed ceiling, portraits, tapestries and landscapes on dark walls, display cases with armour and velazquez’s white horse at the far end

The Royal Collections Gallery: the museum of the kings of Spain, dug in below the Royal Palace

7 min read

the façade of the royal palace of madrid on the plaza de la armeria, in pale stone, with the columns, the clock and the spanish flag in the centre and the large paved square in front

The Royal Palace of Madrid: the largest royal palace in Western Europe, where the king does not live

young knight in a landscape by carpaccio, a boy in armour standing in a flowering meadow, with a horseman and a castle in the background and birds in the sky

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum: two barons’ collection, with the painters the Prado lacks

las meninas by velazquez, with the infanta margarita in the centre, her maids of honour around her, the painter on the left before a large canvas, a dog lying in the foreground and a bright mirror on the back wall

The Prado Museum: eight works to see, from Las Meninas to Goya’s Saturn

10 min read

the main courtyard of the palacio de las duenas in seville, with the fountain in the middle, palms, hedges and yellow and white galleries on two floors

Palacio de las Dueñas: the Seville home of the dukes of Alba, where Antonio Machado was born

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Experiences to book

Discover the best things to do nearby: tours, museums and experiences you can book online, skip the queues, at the best price.

the white roof terraces of the Fundació Joan Miró with large curved concrete skylights and Barcelona in the background

a large vaulted sewer tunnel, with the metal grating walkway running down the middle above the channel, oval lamps set into the right hand wall, cables and pipes hanging from the vault and two visitors at the far end beside a pale blue machine

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Bernini’s veiled Nile in the Fountain of the Four Rivers

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette, a Sunday dance in Montmartre

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Twisted columns with cosmatesque mosaic inlay from a ciborium by Arnolfo di Cambio

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Lithograph with impossible geometries by M.C. Escher

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6 articles

Travel guides

Guides answer one question: what do I see in this city. They put the stops in order, taking into account distances and closing days, which are the variables that ruin a plan.

the garden of the musee bourdelle in paris, with the tall bronzes standing under the red brick arches of the portico and a crouching figure among the low hedges

What to See in Montparnasse: 6 Stops Between Three Free Museums and the Catacombs

11 min read

a lock on the canal saint martin in paris seen from above a footbridge, the dark water reflecting the plane trees, the two service huts on the paved quays and the vault of the covered passage at the far end

What to see between the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville: 5 stops and four centuries of architecture

11 min read

the romanesque bell tower of saint germain des pres in paris, with its twin arched windows under the slate roof, the flank of the church covered in red ivy and cars parked along the street

What to see in Saint-Germain-des-Prés: 7 stops from the Delacroix to the Monnaie de Paris

11 min read

the west front of notre dame de paris after the restoration, the pale stone with its three carved portals, the row of kings in the gallery, the central rose window and the two square towers against a blue sky

What to see on the Île de la Cité and the Île Saint-Louis: 6 stops from Notre-Dame to the Conciergerie

12 min read

the dome and the colonnade of the pantheon in paris seen at the end of a narrow street, with the front of the sainte genevieve library on the right and bicycles parked along the kerb

What to see in the Latin Quarter: 6 stops from the Panthéon to the Jardin des Plantes

12 min read

place des vosges in paris, the red brick and pale stone pavilions with slate roofs and dormer windows, a stone fountain and the garden lawn in the foreground

What to see in the Marais: 9 stops from place des Vosges to the Arts et Métiers

12 min read

6 articles

Monuments & landmarks

One monument at a time, with its history and what you need in order to get inside: when to go, what you actually see, and what the most common ticket leaves out.

the hall of columns in the mezquita of cordoba, with rows of horseshoe arches striped red and pale disappearing into the distance

The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba: the forest of arches and the cathedral built in the middle

the giralda lit up in the blue evening above plaza virgen de los reyes, with the cathedral on the left and an iron street lamp in the foreground

Seville Cathedral and the Giralda: the minaret that became a bell tower, the golden altarpiece and Columbus’s tomb

the patio de las doncellas in the real alcazar of seville, with the long pool between two sunken gardens, the openwork arches and the renaissance gallery above

The Real Alcázar of Seville: the palace that looks Arab and was built for a Christian king

the alhambra on its hill above granada seen from the mirador de san nicolas, with red towers among the trees and mountains behind

The Alhambra in Granada: the Nasrid Palaces at the time on your ticket, the Generalife and the Palace of Charles V

the monastery of Montserrat beneath the jagged rocks of the mountain, with the road on a viaduct and woods all around

Montserrat from Barcelona: the mountain, La Moreneta and a thousand years of monastery

10 min read

the Plaza Mayor of the Poble Espanyol with the stone town hall of Valderrobres, its arcades and street lamps, and an iron railing in the foreground

Poble Espanyol: the village of the 1929 Exhibition that was meant to be demolished

6 articles

Museums & masterpieces

Museums told through what they hold, not through their floor plan. Which works to look for, how much time to allow, and which rooms you can skip without regret.

the courtyard of the palacio de buenavista, home of the museo picasso malaga, with arches on white columns on the ground floor, a balustraded gallery above and potted plants around the edge

The Museo Picasso Málaga: Picasso back in the city where he was born, in a palace above the Phoenician walls

the Gothic gallery in the courtyard of Palau Aguilar, home of the Museu Picasso, with pointed arches on slender columns and an openwork stone parapet

Museu Picasso in Barcelona: the young Picasso, in five Gothic palaces on Carrer Montcada

Fundació Joan Miró: the white museum Miró wanted to be “a living place”, opened in Franco’s last year

6 articles

Artists

The lives and the style of the names that keep coming back in museum rooms. They help you recognise a hand in front of a painting, which is the difference between looking and seeing.

Artists · Artisti

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