Do you want to have a view that allows you to take in all of Oropesa del Mar? Climb up to the castle. Not only does it allow you to share the same vision as the Muslim settlers who built it or of El Cid and later King James I of Aragon who conquered it, but you can also get an idea of the strategic nature of this structure overlooking the coast. In addition, from there you can go down through the historic centre of the city, a tour of some of the emblematic buildings of Oropesa, but also the possibility of losing yourself in the medieval network of narrow streets, nooks and crannies as they negotiate steep gradients, steps and squares. Among them is the Old Prison, an authentic insight into how justice was administered and the conditions of prisoners. Today, dedicated to more educational tasks, the prison is one of the rooms of the Oropesa Museum.
But do not leave the historic centre of the city yet because if you continue walking through it you will reach the Church Square and then you will see the Chapel of the Virgin of Patience, patron saint of the city, an image dating back to the sixteenth century, practically destroyed after the pirate attacks of the following century and today rebuilt and returned to Oropesa after a lengthy restoration process.
You have now formed an idea of what history has bequeathed to modern Oropesa. Battles, reconquests, pirates, devotion. But this has only just begun. If you approach the outline of the coast you can see the King's Tower, built in the fifteenth century to protect the area from Saracen attacks and located on the promontory from which the city seems to throw itself into the Mediterranean. The square tower commands respect and would have done so even more in the turbulent times in which it was erected. It had the help of other watchtowers, a classic construction of the Mediterranean coast, reflecting in this case the importance of Oropesa. The circular and stylized Torre de la Corda rises to the south on a cliff and following the coastline you reach the Torre de la Colomera; both date back to the sixteenth century. All of them form a set of fortresses that deserve a walk through history and nature. Next to the King's Tower, the Oropesa Lighthousewas built in the nineteenth century, which shows us the importance that the city maintained over the years as port of call on the maritime route.
But there is one more sight to see. On another of the promontories that dot the coast are the remains of Oropesa la Vella, the scene of the first human settlements and witness to the passage of time that was abandoned when the Muslims climbed up the hill and built the castle.