Parador Zamora
In the historic centre of the capital of the province, this Parador of Zamora occupies a palace built over the remains of a Roman fortress in the mid 15th century, 
and offers the traveller an opportunity to discover the beauty of the landscape, both natural and urban, of Zamora. The medieval flavour of the interior, with its suits of armour, tapestries and attractive canopied beds, combines with the Renaissance style of the courtyard, glazed wooden gallery and coats of arms.
The hotel has two halls for conventions and a swimming pool in the flourishing garden. Wooden floors and beams give warmth to the baronial decor.
The restaurant offers excellent dishes from the traditional local kitchen, such as bacalao a la tranca (cod), pulpo a la sanabresa (octopus), presas de ternera (beef) and desserts such as rebojo zamorano (a local pastry) and natillas almendradas (almond custard).
On the positive side, staff were extremely helpful and welcoming. The building interiors were magnificent.
On the negative side, the view from the back of the palace overlooking garden and pool was a little disappointing as the garden looked untidy. Perhaps a view over the town square would have been preferable.
In some of the lounge areas, there were ash trays with cigarette ends left in them which neither smell nor look nice, but I believe this will not be possible after June 1st.
Overall, the experience was very enjoyable.
Our stay at Zamora this past October was a pleasant unexpected
surprise. What was to be just an overight stay between Madrid and
Santiago de Compostella turned out to be a highlight of our three
week odyssey through Spain.. The city’s setting and architecture were
stunning. And to stay in a building that was a former palace of the
Conde de Alba was…estupendo.
Only problem was overnight parking. We were told to park overnight in a
parking garage and we would be reimbursed upon presentation of the
parking receipt at checkout. The same lady that gave the parking
instructions the previous night denied our reimbusement at check out,
because we didn’t tell the garage attendant that we were staying at the
parador. And she was unwilling to contact the parking garage to rectify
the problem. I finally told her that she could keep the money if by
chance she could solve the problem. I am only relaying this information
so that future guests do not have to deal with same bureaucratic
nonsense.
Wonderfull building and hotel. This contributed to the enjoyment of our tour of spain.