She stayed at the Hotel AC Santo Mauro (00 34 91 319 6900) and the Hotel Orfila (00 34 91 702 7770), which offer rooms from €319 (£152) and €176 (£104) respectively per night.Further informationSpanish Tourist Office, 22-23 Manchester Square, London W1U 3PX (020-7486 8077; ).. The swashbuckling poet/warrior was also at various times Dictator of Sicily, prisoner in Russia and commander in chief of the Uruguayan army. Although from Nice, his most spectacular achievement was the unification and independence of Italy. Admittance is only allowed to those visitors whose attire and behaviour are in accordance with the importance of the sacred place.” That probably means that uncompromising old Garibaldi himself, with his long hair and tatty red poncho, the Che Guevara of the Victoria era, would have been turned away at the door.Yet it is hard to imagine a finer CV for a 19th-century romantic hero, a status which he still holds among Italians. A large sign warns visitors that they are entering “a place of extraordinary historical interest.

An enterprising baker named a currant biscuit after him.There is, of course, no mention of biscuits in the sombre state-run Garibaldi Museum on the island of Caprera. We were off to the Plaza de Olavide in well-heeled Chamberi, a renowned hangout for the under-fives and the perfect place to give our buggy-bound two-year-old a chance to stretch his legs.Playgrounds are surprisingly, and happily, ubiquitous in Madrid. After a morning pounding the streets of the old city, from the Plaza Mayor to the Puerta del Sol – two of Spain’s premier meeting places, scenes of burnings, bullfights and Bolshevism over the centuries – I decided to try to hail a taxi. It was time for a gin y tonica.Next day I was ready for a real oral workout.

You are in room 204.” Her English was, of course, faultless.”Muchas gracias,” I replied, struggling on regardless. “Soy una periodista de Inglaterra.”The receptionist giggled politely “Yes, Miss Simon, we have been expecting you. Patients could be sent via the Eurostar from Waterloo station to hospitals in northern Europe.The study’s findings may put the Government on the spot. In April, Mr Milburn announced reforms designed to give every patient a choice over where they are treated.A new pilot scheme, called London Choice, begins in the autumn and will give Londoners who have waited six months for a cataract operation the option of getting the surgery done at either another NHS hospital, a private hospital or abroad.It is hoped the scheme will provide an extra 3,500 opera-tions by March 2003, and will be rolled out in the spring to include orthopaedic surgery and then general surgery. But while no figures have been provided it is understood that sending patients to Lille, in northern France, for hip and knee replacement operations was “very cost effective” compared to sending them to private hospitals in the UK.The NHS is under pressure to deliver results after a £40.2bn cash injection from the Treasury over the next five years.

Clubbing is a relative newcomer to Madrid and it is gaining a good reputation, but, like in most Spanish cities, chatting over dinner or a few drinks is still the Spaniard’s preferred social activity.Meanwhile, at the hotel my attempts at speaking Spanish were being thwarted once more.”Hola me llamo Kate Simon,” I faltered. And as we drove into the city, Madrilenos were, indeed, just turning out for the evening, heading for the tapas bars and mesones (traditional Spanish restaurants) of Los Austrias, Huertas and Chueca. But today the reality is that the latest trends to arrive in London, Paris and New York reach Madrid in the blink of an eye. The capital has long been dogged by claims that it would be a one-bit town in the middle of nowhere if it weren’t for Philip II moving his court here in 1561. Where else would we be going at ten o’clock at night, after all?Well, anywhere, frankly, because as everyone knows the Spanish like to sit down to dinner around 10pm, and no more so than in Madrid. It has been keen in recent months to play down any potential role for foreign hospitals in treating NHS patients.