Franco's former vacation home opens to public

The summer palace of former Spanish general and dictator Francisco Franco welcomed its first public visitors last week, thanks to a government legal victory late last year.

The sprawling mansion in the northwest of the country, formerly owned by the novelist Emilia Pardo Bazan, was bought by the general in 1938. After his death in 1975 it was inherited by members of his immediate family, but the government applied to have the residence opened to the public in 2008.

The Spanish courts successfully overturned private ownership of the national monument late last year, and it offically opened to tourists on Friday.