{"id":815365,"date":"2026-03-09T23:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/815365\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:00:28","slug":"ive-visited-loads-of-castles-in-spain-and-this-is-my-favourite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/815365\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve visited loads of castles in Spain and this is my favourite"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPAIN is littered with castles. It has such a glut\u00a0 \u2013 10,257 to be exact \u2013 that I\u2019d believe it if there were more castles per capita in Spain than in any other country.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll see castellated walls in various states of upkeep perched atop craggy outcrops the length and breadth of Spain, whether they were built by the Moors across the southern half of the peninsula or by the Crusaders who battled to prevent the Islamic invasion stretching further north.<\/p>\n

Most visitors to inland Spain have ticked off the hugely famous fortress palaces like Sevilla\u2019s Alcazar or Granada\u2019s Alhambra or the fairytale castle in Segovia with its turrets and buttresses that wouldn\u2019t look out of place in a Disney movie.<\/p>\n

Plenty of others are familiar the world over having served as locations for scenes of Game of Thrones.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With so many castles to choose from, you\u2019d be forgiven for not pulling off the motorway every time you saw one.<\/p>\n

However, on a hillside outside Jaen, rising out of a sea of olive groves, there is a stop worth making,<\/p>\n

This is Ba\u00f1os de la Encina, just a 20 minutes diversion off the A-4 about halfway between Madrid and the coast, in the province of Jaen, Andalucia.<\/p>\n

This town of fewer than 3,000 people boasts the oldest castle in Spain (that is still standing), an impressive sight with its perfectly preserved walls that date back to the 10th century.<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

\"20220312Photos by Fiona Govan<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

It was the Celtiberians who are believed to have first settled on this outlook above a river followed by the Romans, but it was under the Caliphate of Cordoba and Al-Hakam II that in 967 the castle was constructed as part of a network of fortresses across the Sierra Morena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally known as Bury al-Hammam and then Castillo de Burgalimar, the majestic castle walls connect 14 towers with a fifteenth larger tower in one corner.<\/p>\n

Although its high walls may look like sandstone, they are built of compressed earth, a sophisticated adobe that has survived more than a millennia. They surround a vast oval space within.<\/p>\n

Stroll around the outside of the walls and take in vast vistas of olive trees stretching as far as the eye can see, as well as the beauty of the reservoir below.<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

These rolling hills that stretch away to the horizon are home to the Iberian lynx, although the elusive creatures are hard to spot.<\/p>\n

Nestled behind the castle is the town itself, its pretty white-washed buildings clinging to the hillside.<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

\"20220312<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve explored the castle and taken in the splendid views, wander through the network of narrow cobbled streets and patios where you\u2019ll catch glimpses of the castle walls around every corner.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s off the beaten track and you won\u2019t find coach loads of tourists but Ba\u00f1os de la Encina is most definitely a pit-stop worth making.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to read more Olive Press Travel News<\/a> from The Olive Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPAIN is littered with castles. It has such a glut\u00a0 \u2013 10,257 to be exact \u2013 that I\u2019d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[49690,55632,2000,299,87257,18104,8626,104,18106,183],"class_list":["post-815365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-andalucia","tag-castle","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-jaen","tag-news-spain","tag-newspaper","tag-spain","tag-the-olive-press","tag-travel"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116201706767426563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}