Almagro, Spain

Twenty kilometres east of Ciudad Real, the elegant little town of ALMAGRO was for a period in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries quite a metropolis in southern Castile, partly thanks to the influence of the Fuggers, bankers to the Habsburg king and Holy Roman Emperor Carlos I (Charles V).

Today, its main claim to fame is the Corral de las Comedias, in the Plaza Mayor, a perfectly preserved sixteenth-century open-air theatre, unique in Spain. Plays from its sixteenth- and seventeenth-century heyday – the golden age of Spanish theatre – are performed regularly in the tiny auditorium, and throughout July it hosts a fully fledged theatre festival (www.festivaldealmagro.com). By day the theatre is open to visitors though the visiting hours are complex and can be subject to variation. Across the square on Callejon de Villar, the Museo del Teatro (Tues– Fri 10am–2pm & 4–7pm, Sat 11am–2pm & 4–6pm, Sun 11am–2pm, July Tues– Fri 11am–2pm & 6–9pm, Sat 11am–2pm & 7–9pm, Sun 11am–2pm; € 1.20) houses photos, posters, model theatres and other paraphernalia, but is only of passing interest to anyone other than theatre buffs.

The Plaza Mayor itself is magnificent: more of a wide street than a square, it is arcaded along its length, and lined with rows of green-framed windows – a north European influence brought by the Fugger family, Carlos V's bankers, who settled here. Also resident in Almagro for a while were the Knights of Calatrava, though their power was on the wane by the time the Convento de la Asunción de Calatrava was built in the early sixteenth century. Further traces of Almagro's former importance are dotted throughout the town in the grandeur of numerous Renaissance mansions.

Back in the Plaza Mayor, you can have an open-air snack or browse among the shops in the arcades, where lacemakers at work with bobbins and needles are the main attraction. On Wednesday mornings there's a lively market in c/Ejido de San Juan.