The city where Ferdinand married Isabella and where Columbus died is rather prosaically set in the middle of a dusty plateau on the Pisuerga River. Though much of Valladolid is modern and unattractive, it rates a visit for the sculpture museum (Museo Nacional de Escultura Religiosa). Outstanding Spanish Renaissance works are on display there. History buffs can see the house where the discoverer of the New World passed on to the next world. The San Pablo church, Santa Maria la Antigua (Gothic) and the never-finished main cathedral are all worth a visit. The town also has diocesan, and archaeological and East Asian (Japanese and Philippino) art museums. 100 mi/160 km northwest of Madrid.
