the fourth corner: Santa Barbara Castle

Towering over the city of Alicante, the Santa Barbara Castle is one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe. It sits on Mount Benacantil, overlooking the city below.

You can see it from many areas of the city, here peeking between tall buildings. This was a daily view as we walked from our apartment towards the beach. I loved the pastel colors on these apartment buildings.

The castle dates back to the 9th century, at the time under Muslim control of the Iberian Peninsula. It was captured by Castilian forces led by Alfonso of Castile on December 4, 1248 and named for Saint Barbara, whose feast day was the day the castle was recaptured from the Arabs. After the 18th century, its role in the military had declined and it was sometimes used as a prison. Then, it remained abandoned until 1963 when it was opened to the public.

We chose to do the hike up to the castle rather than the elevator lifts that are available on a different side. The path leading to the nice trail was very near where we were staying. Here is the sign at the beginning of the urban trail.

And here was the beginning of the many steps up the mountain. I mentioned that we took a lot of steps while in Spain. A whole bunch.

We made our way to the top and were amazed at all the different levels of buildings and interesting things to see. There originally was a palace, dungeons, a small church and even a moat. Besides what ever else may have been there over the years. To me, it is just interesting to imagine all the different people that had walked those paths before us.

Here is one of the lookout towers. The views from these were amazing.

You could see the sea, the city and the walls below that surrounded and protected the castle. It was quite windy this particular day and was most noticeable while out on these corners. Notice how packed in the buildings are. Now you can really appreciate how narrow most of the streets are!

Another lookout tower from a different angle. They had some medieval statues positioned just right. At some angles from below, they looked quite real. Again, makes you imagine how it truly looked at one time.

The lowest arches were actually where we entered the castles interior. As I said, there were many levels and structures that led to a higher point.

Another wonderful medieval soldier ready to protect the castle!

Yep, it was windy and yep, we gingerly made our way to sit along this wall for a photo. It was a long way down to the next level below! They could really 'sea' a long way for any enemy ships that might have made their way towards the castle.

We were somewhat surprised to see the plant life was just like our backyard. Leah had told us that Alicante was a mix of Phoenix and parts of California and she was right. All of these exact plants are in our yard!

I do love a little rust and a great piece of metal!

They had a small museum in one of the buildings. In this particular hallway, they had photographs of years gone by in Alicante. It was so neat to see the candid daily life photos and actually recognize some of the streets and buildings. Again, how many generations of people walking the same streets. I know it is like that in many places, but hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years is pretty amazing.

Evidently, there was a flood at some point and I love the ladies playing their instruments.

A group of people walking the path to the castle.

Some spanish dancers perhaps? Love the fans!
And look...today we would call him a photo bomber!

It is definitely a fishing area with seafood being very popular. They still prepare a dish with little fish like those in the baskets. They fry them whole and you are suppose to eat the whole thing. Me? Not so adventurous.