San Vicente de la Barquera is a gorgeous coastal town in northern Spain with an array of medieval monuments including the Castillo del Rey. The castle is well preserved and sits at the top of a hill, overlooking the town and bridges.
Visiting San Vicente de la Barquera
The town is easy to reach although parking is limited and it is very crowded in summer. The castle is a bit weird, it’s easy to get to but really not much to see other than the outer walls. It’s actually best appreciated from a distance where you can see it’s size and the rock face it is built on.
NB: Our visit was in 2012 and since then more restoration work has been done on the castle and it now hosts an exhibition of the town’s history.
My Experience
Our visit to the town was wonderful. The elevated position gives 360 degree views of the coast, river and Picos de Europa mountains in the distance. The castle was a bit of a let down but it was just part of the package here anyway. The information inside was all in Spanish (I know, it’s in Spain and I should get educated rather than being a tourist!) and the castle wasn’t promoted in any way. Looking at the photos, I think most are of the church rather than the Castillo del Rey anyway, other than the last shot from across the water! Our visit to San Vicente de la Barquera was part of a family holiday based near Santillana del Mar, detailed in my travel blog here.
San Vicente de la Barquera Photo Gallery
History
It was built in 1210, after the granting of jurisdiction to the town of San Vicente de la Barquera ( Cantabria ) by Alfonso VIII, although it is supposed to have a more legendary origin in the middle of the VIII century , when the Asturian king Alfonso I carried out the first repopulation of the town.
The kings of Castile reserved the dominion over the castle of San Vicente, temporarily handing over their mayoralty to whoever it seemed, until the year 1453, when Juan II granted his tendency to the residents of the town, in the person of his Attorney General.
References
There is an excellent write up of he castle on the Cantabrian tourist site here and the history above is taken from there.
The English translation of the Spanish Wiki page is here.