Sagunto Castle

Sagunto, Spain, Spain

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Sagunto Castle is a vast fortress crowning a hilltop above the town of Sagunto near Valencia, Spain, with layers of history spanning over two millennia from Iberian origins to Roman, Visigothic, Islamic, and medieval Christian eras.

Originally an Iron Age Iberian settlement called Arse sacked by Hannibal in 219 BC sparking the Second Punic War, it features Roman temple ruins, a forum cistern, and extensive 8th- to 13th-century Islamic walls forming seven plazas like the Plaza de Armas and Ciudadela, strengthened by later Gothic, Renaissance, and French Peninsular War modifications. 

Conquered definitively by Jaume I in 1238 and declared a National Monument in 1931, the site offers panoramic Mediterranean views through its curtain walls, towers, and bastions amid an architectural collage of conquests.