Almunia de San Miguel

The Almunia de San Miguel is a guesthouse with charm that transports us to an atmosphere of tranquillity and mystery, in the heart of what was the old Templar neighbourhood of Toledo . Of intimate size, the guestrooms are gathered around a central patio that provides the backbone of the living quarters and acts as the nucleus of the building, following the tradition of Toledan homes, a tradition that goes back to the Roman peristyle (centralized, columned porch) and that the Arabic Moors so skilfully continued, seeding the ancient city with buildings with austere facades, but turned inward. An interior that, in this case, transports us to other times, and evokes in us a tranquillity and luxury that is now almost lost and that the Almunia brings back and transmits the moment we cross the threshold. The origins of the building go back to the 17th Century; although the old water cistern (the current dining room) dates back to the middle Ages we are newly connected to a Templar past, mysterious and prone to a variety of legends and fables highly topical nowadays. Without needing to go further, the Almunia itself becomes an improvised stage of the novel El Gran Arcano (The Great Secret) by Paloma Sanchez-Garnica. Almunia its name sounds like an Andalusian legend, like a nostalgic desire at the bank of the Tajo and so diving into the past we find the perfect name: Almunia , from the classical Arabic word munyah , which means desire , but also garden , which in the case of this guesthouse has taken the form of a beautifully calm patio, like the city that accommodates it.