Castro Fortress

Vigo, Spain

The Fortaleza del Castro is a hilltop fortress in Vigo built in 1665 during the Portuguese Restoration War in order to protect the city from the continuous raids by the British Royal Navy, allies of Portugal.

Built on the hill of the same name, the defensive system of the city consisted of the fortresses of Castro and San Sebastián and the now disappeared city wall. The city wall had an irregular shape due to the orography of the city, it was constructed by the Engineer Colonel Fernando de Gourannanbergue and maestre de campo Diego Arias Taboada to link the two fortresses. Despite this effort to provide security to the city, documents from that time say that this defensive system was ineffective as it could not impede landings further along the coast.

After several attempts to improve the defenses of the city, Vigo was looted again by British navy on the 23-24 October 1702 during Battle of Vigo Bay at the War of the Spanish Succession.

In 1809, the fortress was occupied by the French army during Peninsular War; on 28 March that year the fortress was reconquered following an uprising by people of Vigo, because of the city was given the honorific title of 'the faithful, loyal and courageous city of Vigo' the following year.

Nowadays the fortress is one of the preferred sites for people to take a walk in Vigo, because his beautiful gardens, open spaces, fonts and also the privileged views.

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Details

Founded: 1665
Category: Castles and fortifications in Spain

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

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4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Neteja Serveis (3 years ago)
I don't used to came arrond, because it hertz so much painfool it is...
K M A Samad (3 years ago)
What a beautiful place of Galicia. I love the place.
Maruxa Gesto Rodríguez (3 years ago)
The quiet morning and the views. Lovely
Lorna Davison (4 years ago)
Fog on a December rainy day made this place at once mystical and reverent. Not many visitors. Be very careful when backing into the parking spots against the hillside. There is a fairly deep trough that water runs in around the hillside. It could damage your car if you back in too far. Got some great shots of the hillside itself as views were not available. A rare thing indeed for a traveler who loves unique light.
Jim Mannoia (4 years ago)
Beautiful views! No signage to direct you to the entrance which happens to be on the opposite side from where the main steps come up. So you climb up a long final flight only to find a locked door, then have to walk back down and go around. A simple sign would have saved a long climb after already climbing literally hundreds of steps even AFTER the escalators!!
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