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El Moral Castle is located in the heart of the historic town centre of Lucena. It was originally built by the Moorish califate of Al-Andalus in the 9th century on the site of Roman and Visigoth remains. Later the castle was the headquarters of the 'donceles', a military body and group of elite nobles serving King Ferdinand the Catholic. The Keep was where King Boabdil was held prisoner after being captured in the battle of Martín González (1483), near the Sierra de Aras. It later became the residence of the Marquises of Comares.
The building currently houses the Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Lucena, which features the Hall of Sima del Ángel, an important site from the Lower Palaeolithic era, considered one of the three essential sites for discovering the origins of mankind in Spain together with Orce and Atapuerca. The Jewish Room, refers to the ancient Jewish city of Eliossana, known as the Pearl of Sepharad.
There are stunning views of the town from the Paseo de Ronda and the terrace of the Keep.
References:The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.
The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.