Fodor's Expert Review Corral de Comedias

Appearing almost as it did in 1628 when it was built, this theater has wooden balconies on four sides and the stage at one end of the open patio. During the golden age of Spanish theater—the time of playwrights Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Cervantes, and Lope de Vega—touring actors came from all over Europe to Almagro, once a burgeoning urban center due to its mercury mines and lace industry. Few such theaters stand today. Forgo the tourist-oriented spectacles unless you're thoroughly bilingual or a Spanish theater buff: poor acoustics and archaic Spanish scripts make it difficult to understand what's going on. An international classical theater festival takes place here in July.