The Castle of Alcalá de los Gazules (Spanish: Castillo) is a castle located in Alcalá de los Gazules, Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1993.

Castle of Alcalá de los Gazules

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Castillo de Gigonza is located in San José del Valle in the province of Cádiz, southern Spain. It is situated on the road from Medina Sidonia to Arcos de la Frontera, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Paterna de Rivera. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural monument in 1993. In 2009, it was reported that the Socialist Party of San José del Valle denounced restoration work being done at Castillo de Gigonza on the castle tower, the chapel, the adjoining houses and courtyards, stating the work was illegal and unlicensed.
The fortified site has been in existence since antiquity. The present castle is of Andalusian origin and almost square in shape, with two parts to its structure. A narrow and low door contains a lintel with two heavy imposts. The upper floor is vaulted and contains windows. The grounds contain a surrounding fence. The courtyard is accessed through a door with and arch, displaying a coat of arms of the Casa de Arcos.

Castle of Gigonza

El castillo de Medina Sidonia son las ruinas de una antigua fortificación situada el lo alto del cerro del Castillo en la localidad gaditana de Medina Sidonia.
Estructura
Los estudios y actuaciones arqueológicos realizadas sobre el sitio señalan la existencia de tres fortificaciones superpuestas temporalmente:
Restos de un castellum militar romano, del que se conservan gruesos muros construidos con sillares, y que ocupa la mayor parte de la cumbre del cerro.​ En el lado este cuenta con un frente de muralla de más de 60 metros de longitud, que tiene adosadas a tramos regulares seis pequeñas torres rectangulares, y dos grandes estructuras cuadrangulares defensivas de las mismas características adosadas en el flanco sur. Hasta el momento, no se han encontrado fortificaciones de estas características en ningún otro punto de la península ibérica.
Restos del alcázar árabe, del que se conservan varios tramos de murallas construidas con tapial, cuya fábrica se realizaba con una mezcla prensada de tierra, pequeños guijarros, trozos de cerámicas y algo de cal, que a juzgar por los materiales que se han sacado de su fosa de cimentación podría ser del siglo XI, de época almorávide. El perímetro de este nuevo castillo sensiblemente mayor que el anterior.
Restos del castillo medieval, mandado a construir por Enrique Pérez de Guzmán y Meneses, II Duque de Medina Sidonia.
Entre finales del siglo XVI y bien avanzado el siglo XX el castillo y su entorno sirvieron de cantera para extraer piedras que se utilizaron en nuevas construcciones de la ciudad, como iglesia Mayor de Santa María la Coronada y el Ayuntamiento, dejando a la fortaleza en las ruinas que han llegado hasta nosotros.
En el siglo XIX el castillo se convierte en cuartel general de las tropas francesas durante el asedio de Cádiz y San Fernando. En el periodo ocupación francés entre 1810 y 1812 se volvieron a levantar las murallas y se construyeron dependencias en su interior, como barracones para la tropa, cuadras, cocinas, etc.

Castle of Medina-Sidonia

The Castle of Jimena de la Frontera (Spanish: Castillo de Jimena de la Frontera) is a castle located in Jimena de la Frontera, Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1931.

The castle is situated on the outskirts of Jimena de la Frontera in the Province of Cádiz, Spain. The castle was originally built by the Grenadian Moors of the Umayyad Caliphate ruling over the area of Hispania Baetica (modern Andalusia) in the 8th Century. It served as one of many castles guarding both the approach to the fortifications around Gibraltar and the Bay of Algeciras where the strategic and important Moorish stronghold and fortress of Algeciras was located.

The fortress was likely build over the ruins of the ancient city of Oba which dated to pre Roman Celtiberian period. Given its strategic location on the frontier of the Gibraltar region, this fortress proved an important Moorish stronghold throughout the Muslim domination of the Iberian Peninsula.

The castle was taken by the Jerezanos in 1430 and retaken by the Moorish Kingdom of Granada in 1451. In 1465, it was integrated into the Kingdom of Castille as the property of the crown. It was declared a national monument of Spain in 1931, described as the building that best represents the town of Jimena de la Frontera.

The outer defenses consist of a long irregular wall that is lengthened in places to adapt to the uneven mountainous terrain. Watchtowers line this wall at regular intervals. The most well known tower is the Torre del Reloj or Albarrán (English: Clock Tower) and together, the towers have a very effective line of sight and defense forming an easily defensible arch of a fire zone. Various trenches also exist, all dug in different eras.

Inside the walls stands the Alcázar which was built or renovated after the Christian takeover of the castle. the Torre del Homenaje, with its large circular dome juts out of the Alcázar at a height of 13 meters making it the tallest tower of the castle. The inside of the Torre del Homenaje hides an earlier polygonal pattern tower that was presumably built over after the Christian takeover.