Monterrey Palace, a Renaissance landmark in Salamanca, stands in the novel as the setting for one of Frank and Vera’s last shared walks. Its enduring grandeur recedes behind their conversation about Sonia, making the palace a backdrop to grief and to the family life their daughter’s death has cut short.

Setting and Appearance

Frank and Vera begin their walk in the Plaza Mayor and descend to Monterrey Palace, which the narrative identifies as belonging to the duquesa de Alba. The palace and the nearby Church of the Purísima frame a small square where the former couple pause. In the golden light of dusk, the old buildings of iron-rich sandstone have taken on a warm reddish hue.

The Walk and Its Conversation

Vera does not know Salamanca, and before dinner she insists that Frank show her the old university city. Although the route passes beautiful, venerable palaces, the pair scarcely discuss the architecture. Instead, they talk quietly about small episodes in Sonia’s life. The contrast is deliberate: the city’s celebrated buildings provide the scene, but their attention stays with a daughter who is no longer alive.

Memory and Loss

The walk takes place only a few months after Frank and Vera’s separation. They are careful not to spend too much time together in public, since their former marriage and the circumstances of their separation—and the accident—are already subjects of speculation. Frank later repeats the same route alone, the following afternoon, extending the walk in memory after Vera has gone.

At the palace, Frank imagines the life that the accident prevented: had Sonia lived, he and Vera might have walked through Salamanca with their five-year-old between them, attending the congress while caring for their child. Monterrey Palace thus anchors a scene where the city’s ancient continuity is set against a family future that can now exist only as a counterfactual.