San Marcos Castle, El Puerto de Santa María, Spain

San Marcos Castle is a 12th-century fortress, commissioned by Alfonso X 'The Wise' upon the remains of a Moorish mosque on the banks of Guadalete River. Despite being so old (800 years), the castle is preserved in perfect conditions of use. Cultural events, conferences, lunches or dinners can be held both inside or outside in the garden, for up to 300 people.

The inside of the old mosque is an ideal place for events and closing dinners for conferences and conventions, because of its historic atmosphere. During the summer, the area around the fortress is an incomparable venue for celebrating open-air events.

References:

andalucia.org

User Reviews

Cyrille Saulnier (2 years ago)
Very interesting castle with a lot of history. The audio guide is nicely designed with fascinating facts. I wish there was a little more stories or more contents around Christopher Columbus whose main ship was prepared and funded by Santa Maria!

Benjamin Zgank (2 years ago)
Nice tour, interesting history with the guide on the phone.

Jeff Wilde (5 years ago)
The hours on Google maps are wrong. It's only open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the winter.

John Hammond (5 years ago)
Looked a nice place bit they wouldn't let us in unless we were on the official guided tour. We came especially to visit the castle, we arrived about 1pm to be told the next tour in English was at 6pm!

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Staffan O Andersson

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The stone church of Gamla Uppsala, built over the pagan temple, dates from the early 12th century. Due to fire and renovations, the present church is only a remnant of the original cathedral.

Before the arrival of Christianity in Sweden, Gamla Uppsala was the seat of Swedish kings and a ceremonial site known all over northern Europe. The settlement was home to royal palaces, a royal burial ground, and a great pagan temple. The Uppsala temple, which was described in detail by Adam of Bremen in the 1070s, housed wooden statues of the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Freyr. A golden chain hung across its gables and the inside was richly decorated with gold. The temple had priests, who sacrificed to the gods according to the needs of the people.

The first Christian cathedral was probably built in the 11th century, but finished in the 12th century. The stone building may have been preceded by a wooden church and probably by the large pagan temple.

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