Studio39Designs

Alicante – Castillo de Santa Barbara

After we visited the caves, we visited an old castle, called Castillo de Santa Barbara.  Again, it’s a really old fortification, dating back to the 9^th century.  Let’s take a look…..

Castillo de Santa Barbara Above Alicante

This was our first look at Castillo de Santa Barbara, looming over the city of Alicante, Spain.  It’s really a rather rambling fortification, and takes up quite a lot of land.  They do have an elevator that will take you up to the castle, but our tour drove us up to the main gate.  Thank goodness we didn’t have to walk all the way up!  Just walking up from the main gate to the top was quite exerting!

View from the Top

The walk was worth it!  This was the view from the very top of the castle – beautiful view on a beautiful day!  The buildings immediately below our vantage point were part of the castle grounds.

Ancient Doorway

There were various parts of the castle that we couldn’t explore, like whatever was thru this doorway!  Still, the steps and doorway were quite picturesque and I couldn’t resist the shot!

Old Cannon Sight

At the top of the castle, there were some battlements that held cannons at one point in the past.  Some of the cannons still exist, and I thought it was a cool view to look down the cannon toward the city of Alicante.

Alicante Harbor

Here’s the view from the other side of the castle, looking down on the harbor.  Yes, that was our ship sitting there!

Bullring in Town

On the sort of back side of the castle, the view looked out onto more of the city of Alicante, and specifically the bullring in town.  No stadiums, but after all, we were in Spain, where bull fighting is a popular sport (at least, I think it’s considered a sport).

Ancient Walkway

One of the things I loved about this castle was all the wonderful stonework that was around.  This walkway is one example of the wonderful work done by artesian (I’m sure they weren’t considered that back then) back in the 9^th century or so.

Walkway with a View

Here’s another example of the great stonework.  Plus, as you walk thru it, the view on the other side is incredible.  The history I was walking thru combined with the beauty of the views made for quite the heady experience!

Old Sentry Post

Throughout the castle area, there were these sentry posts at various intervals.  Back in the day, I guess security was high, even if you made it thru the main gate!  Altho it feels somewhat romantic now, I know it was a brutal time.

Enjoy!