Castillo de Santa Catalina (Castle of Santa Catalina), Cadiz

In 1596, C谩diz found itself on the wrong end of a very bad visit from the Anglo-Dutch party crashers led by the Duke of Essex and Admiral Howard. These weren鈥檛 your average tourists鈥攖hey looted the city, torched the Spanish fleet, and left C谩diz smoldering in ruins. The damage was so severe that Spain, quite literally, went broke the next year. Oops.

One witty chronicler summed it up best: Spain had 鈥渁ll heads of command and none were feet that would follow.鈥� In short: too many bosses, not enough hustle. King Philip, less than amused, launched not one but two more armadas in a fit of salty vengeance. Both failed. C谩diz was still in pieces. But out of the ashes came something solid: hope. And hope, as it turns out, looked a lot like a fortress.

Construction of the Castle of Santa Catalina began in 1598, part therapy, part defense strategy. The original design came from Crist贸bal de Rojas. Sadly, Rojas didn鈥檛 live to see it finished; that job went to Ignacio de Sala, who wrapped it up in 1621, just in time for Philip III to pat himself on the back.

Perched dramatically at the tip of La Caleta Beach, the fortress was a prototype for colonial forts in Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. With pavilions, cisterns, barracks, sentry boxes, a dry moat, and a state of the art drawbridge, it checks all the classic fortress boxes. The views from the battlements don't disappoint either so you might forget they once housed military prisoners.

These days, Santa Catalina has swapped cannons for culture. It now hosts exhibitions, concerts, and the Alcances Documentary Film Festival鈥攏ow that's a transformation worth discovering.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Cadiz. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "黑料吃瓜网: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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Create Your Own Self-Guided Walk to Visit This Sight

Sight Name: Castillo de Santa Catalina (Castle of Santa Catalina)
Sight Location: Cadiz, Spain (See walking tours in Cadiz)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Walking Tours in Cadiz, Spain

Create Your Own Walk in Cadiz

Creating your own self-guided walk in Cadiz is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.

Cadiz's Plazas Walking Tour

Nicknamed 鈥渢he silver cup鈥� for the way its peninsula juts into the Atlantic, C谩diz sparkles as one of Spain鈥檚 oldest coastal gems. The Old Town is a maze of narrow streets, whitewashed fa莽ades, and balconies that seem to compete over who can grow the brightest gardens. Add in centuries of Moorish, Baroque, and Neoclassical influence, and you鈥檝e got a city that wears its history in layers... view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 1.9 Km or 1.2 Miles

Cadiz Introduction Walking Tour

C谩diz isn鈥檛 just old鈥攊t鈥檚 mythologically old. Some say Hercules himself founded the city after his tenth labor, fresh from slaying a three-headed monster and stealing a herd of red cattle. Others鈥攍ess into mythology, more into maritime records鈥攕ay it was the Phoenicians who rolled up in black ships around 1100 BC and named it Gadir, meaning 鈥渨alled stronghold.鈥� Either way, it鈥檚... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles

Cadiz's Old Fortifications Walking Tour

鈥淐谩diz is a silver cup, surrounded by walls and kissed by the sea.鈥� The saying isn鈥檛 just poetry鈥攊t鈥檚 urban planning. For over 3,000 years, this port city has been circling itself with stone, preparing for whoever might come sailing over the horizon. And given C谩diz鈥檚 enviable position and wealth, plenty of enemies did.

After Columbus launched voyages two and four from here,... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 4.3 Km or 2.7 Miles

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