Tarifa is a fantastic castle to visit, with views across to Morocco the fortress is a single minded defensive building. The map shows the location of the castle on the shoreline but also the green flags show the extent of the well preserved old town.
Visiting Tarifa Castle
The castle is well signposted and there is plenty of parking on the road outside. The old town is just opposite and that offers more historical attractions as well as cafes.
My Experience
Tarifa Castle was an unexpected pleasure after the smooth and sophisticated Moorish Alcazars we had experienced during this visit to Andalucia. This is a brutal defensive bastion, designed to show who was boss in the area. We parked just outside the castle and spent a while walking along the battlements and up the towers. The views were impressive as were the walls, no fifteenth century curves, this was tenth century straight lines, eschewing technology for solidity.
Inside the castle the church has displays of Roman and bronze age relics discovered during the reconstruction. There is also a small display on the life of Guzman, who the castle is now named after.
After the castle we walked through the town and viewed some of the city gates and lengths of wall that are still standing. The Puerta de Jerez was lovely and it was a pleasant time, wandering through the maze of streets and seeing what would pop up next.
Tarifa Castle Photo Gallery
History
This impressive, solidly-built Moorish fortification, which played an important part in early Spanish history, has been recently restored. As the southern-most point of the peninsula, Tarifa was an important strategic entry point into Spain and the rest of Europe for would-be invaders, so good defensive structures were essential.
The Castle of Guzman El Bueno was originally built as an alcazar (Moorish fortress) in 960 AD on the orders of Caliph Abderraman III of Cordoba, to protect Tarifa against raids from Africa and the North (Vikings). This Caliph also constructed a number of defences along the Iberian coast, typically square castles in the style of the official Umayyad state architecture, but the Tarifa one is trapezoidal due to the hill’s contours.
The castle is now named after Alonso Perez de Guzman, who famously recaptured Tarifa from the Moors in the siege of 1294, when he sacrificed his son’s life to save the town, and was given the title Duke of Medina Sidonia by the King (and named El Bueno, which means the Righteous rather than the Good) as a reward. Afterwards it was used as a garrison for Spanish troops over many centuries.
References
There is a brief overview of the castle on the Wiki page here.
There is a great guide to the castle here and the history above is copied from there.