The stories hidden within the castles and watchtowers on our coastline…

Most of us, when we first visited Spain, expected to find golden, sun-drenched beaches, palm trees and orange groves – and those who are familiar with Don Quijote probably anticipated mountains, castles and windmills.

Whilst we can’t promise windmills to newcomers to the Comunidad Valenciana and Murcia, the rest can be found in abundance.

Leaving the palm-fringed beaches aside for a moment, a closer look at the castles reveals an intriguing insight into the way the population of Spain lived in Mediaeval times. Many were built during the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula as a refuge against enemy hostilities and a handy place to spy on them so they could get prepared if the troops came closer, hence their typical location on top of a mountain. For the same reason, later inhabitants of Spain built a number of watchtowers along the coast, many of which remain fully-intact, apparently untouched by the hand of time and undamaged by the elements.

It is highly likely that there is at least one castle or tower in the town you live in, and that you have always been meaning to pop along and investigate. To whet your appetite, here are some descriptions of a few of the best-known castles and watchtowers in the two regions.

El Castillo de Santa Ana, Oliva
Starting in la Safor, in the south of the Valencia province, is the ruin of Santa Ana, which sits on top of a hill above the town and is reached by a colourful calvario hidden by a dense pine forest. 

Oliva formed part of the Muslim kingdom of Dénia and depended upon the Castle of Rebollet at the other end of the town after the reconquest, although Santa Ana was built around two hundred years earlier by the Moors.

Little remains of it now besides a wall, cordoned off by metal fencing, although the view from the top over the entire town is spectacular and rumour has it that the entrance to a cave, found in the castle grounds, leads to a number of houses in the old town. At night, it is spookily lit-up and takes on the appearance of a haunted house.

Torre Guaita, Xeraco
Located on the Xeraco-Tavernes border on the right bank of the river Vaca (also known as the river Xeraco), the Guaita watch tower was built in the 16th century – long after the Moors had been expelled from the peninsula, but still during a time when Berber (North African) pirates were likely to attack.

A cylindrical tower, almost cone-shaped and around seven-and-a-half metres high, it has just one entrance door with a narrow window above it for monitoring the coastline.

El Castillo de Forna
High on a hill above the hamlet of Forna - which has come under the jurisdiction of the village of l’Atzúvia in the northern Marina Alta since time immemorial - and only accessible on foot, the square-shaped castle belonged to the wealthy Al-Azraq family before it was wrestled off them in 1262 in the twilight of the Moorish reign.

The castle is in a very deteriorated state but to the naked eye this is nearly impossible to tell – due to its robust construction it continues to be an impressive sight, both from a distance and close up, and the view from the top of the hill is breathtaking. The entire perimeter remains intact as do the four towers that support it, the oval-shaped entrance door and various features within it, such as wells, vaults, the staircase leading to the upper floor and the patio de armas.

Fortunately, plans are underway to restore the ruined parts of the castle to their former glory.

Whilst visiting the castle, take the opportunity to see Forna with its picture-postcard houses and narrow streets and pop into one of the small, friendly and inviting restaurants in the tiny village square.

La Torre del Gerro, Dénia
Within the boundaries of the Montgó natural park from the Las Rotas end of Dénia, the Gerro watchtower sits on the edge of the hillside, looking out over the sea.

Built on a solid, rocky base, it is believed to date back to the 17th century, a curious revelation given that this period in history was relatively quiet for Dénia in terms of enemy invasions. La Torre del Gerro’s privileged position means that fromthe inside, one can patrol from above the whole of the Gulf of Valencia, which starts where the Costa Blanca ends – on the southern border of the Valencia province up to the city itself.

The Gerro tower is one of the most unique constructions on the Alicante coastline, with its conical shape divided into two parts and coat of arms on the walls. Its outline gave the tower its name – gerro is the Valencian word for ‘pitcher’ or ‘tankard’.

A trip to the tower means that the visitor can enjoy the panoramic views over the sea, and the rich variety of wild mountain plants to be seen in this part of the Montgó.

El Castillo de la Mola, Novelda
Located atop a hill some four kilometres out of town next to the Sancutuary of Santa María, La Mola castle was built on the site of a Roman fortress in the twelfth century by the Muslims, although in the fourteenth century the Christian inhabitants restored it and added a triangular tower.

This tower, triangular in shape and located at the end of the patio de armas is the only one of its kind in Europe and one of the first examples of civil/military Catalán-style architecture in the Comunidad Valenciana. Inside are vaults on each of the two floors.

Visually very impressive, the polygon-shaped castle is solidly-built and sits within the remains of the ‘city’ wall. The edges of the entrance door are decorated with stone squares.

During your trip to Novelda, use the chance to have a look at the stunning Gaudí-inspired architecture of the Sanctuario de Santa María Magdalena, and to buy some of the town’s home-ground spices.

El Castillo de Orihuela
Close to the town itself on top of St Michael’s Mount, or el Monte de San Miguel, is the most ill-fated castle in the region. During what is known as ‘the war of the two Pedros’, Pedro the Cruel of Castilla attempted to lay siege to it in 1364 in an attempt to snatch Orihuela away from the Kingdom of Valencia, but without success. During the War of Succession a bolt of lightning that struck the gunpowder storage room inside the castle destroyed ahuge chunk of it and, around 120 years later, an earthquake that was felt throughout the entire Comunidad and damaged most of the buildings in Orihuela also vented its spleen on the doomed castle, nearly bringing it to the ground.

Yet, despite man’s and nature’s attempts to put paid to the monument, its sturdy construction means that it has stood some of the most harrowing tests of time.

There is concrete evidence to suggest that the castle was already built by the time of the Norman invasion in 859 although, whilst little proof of its earlier existence has been found, it seems highly likely that it was around during the time of Teodomir, and aristocrat – or some would have said king – who owned territories encompassing the whole of the Alicante province, parts of Murcia, and Xàtiva and Castelló de Rugat in the province of Valencia as well as half of Albacete and parts of Andalucía. According to legend,  Teodomiro hid inside the castle walls when he saw the Muslim troops advancing, having dressed up the women of Orihuela as soldiers so that Abd al-Aziz (son of a Moorish governor who was later killed by his own people for marrying a Christian girl) would believe he had brought in reinforcements.

El Castillo de Lorca (main photo above)
This elongated fortress on a polygon-shaped base stands out for its two towers – la Torre de Espolón (‘spur tower’) and la Torre Alfonsina, so-named because it was commissioned in the 13th century by King Alfonso X.

The imposing Alfonsina tower is on three levels, all accessible by a stone staircase, with Gothic-style windows, and stands at a formidable 30 metres in height.

La Torre del Espolón, built at around the same time, is pyramid-shaped and has been restpred several times. Inside, on both floors, are water-wells and stone-arched vaults.

Lorca castle’s most striking feature is its sheer width – about 3,000 people could fit in all at the same time, showing that it was designed in case there was a mass exodus as the entire population ran for cover in the face of imminent attacks. In fact, this is precisely what the French troops did in 1810.

After visiting the castle, take a look around Lorca itself – the thematic exhibition known as the Time Workshop, or Taller del Tiempo, takes visitors to the historical high points and uncovers the rich history and culture of this southern Murcia-province city. For more information, take a look at the website, www.lorcatallerdeltiempo.com.