Monfragüe Castle & Trujillo Castle – Spain

Many people travel to Spain to walk famous routes like the Camino de Santiago or spend a summer abroad backpacking through Europe (both of which are definitely still on our bucket list). While we didn’t get around to it in our younger days, we did spend a couple of weeks tramping around Spain in the winter of 2024. We planned to visit a handful of cities while spending most of our time in more rural areas and getting in some hiking. One of the first hikes we took was in Monfragüe National Park in Cáceres which is situated in the Extremadura province.

Driving through the hills and farmland in the Monfragüe national park was lovely to begin with and before reaching the starting point of our intended hike we pulled off to snap a quick us-ie (totally stealing this term from Ted Lasso) at this turn off.

If you look close you can see a veritable kettle of black vultures circling the rocks. Yes, I looked this up and “kettle” is the official name of a group of vultures in flight. Knowledge is power. The park offers bird watching opportunities, star gazing, and hiking of course. There is a visitor center and you can read about other specifics of the park here. The official Spain tourism website has extremely helpful information and I used it quite a bit while exploring things to do and see both on and off the beaten path while in country. I found it easiest to search a city name and then use the Spain tourism website to get some ideas of what to see and where.

We selected a route to the castle of Monfragüe and parked at the bottom of a medium hill among holm oak trees which produce the black acorns that the famous black Iberian pigs feed on. Along the drive we did see some pigs free ranging in the rolling hills presumably feasting on these tasty acorns which give their meat a uniquely rich and delicious flavor.

We realized after walking a ways up a fairly steep paved incline that perhaps we could have driven a little further on before branching off on the actual trail, but no matter, it felt good to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. It appeared that there was a shuttle that ran at some time or another based on the online research I had done but besides a sign that had a shuttle on it, we never saw one. That could very well be because we could not figure out the “Spain schedule” to save our lives. You can read more about the Spain schedule and our struggles with it here. We couldn’t believe that we only saw maybe half a dozen people the whole time we were in the park (all of whom were actually hiking, enjoying and respecting the park). This was in stark contrast to national park traffic back home in the US where we often have to spend the first half of the day fighting through the endless parking lots, gawkers, ticket sale lines and strollers overflowing with all manner of stray wrappers and toys just to find the nature that we came to see…but I digress.

Upon entering the castle there was a small room with a doorway and stairs that lead somewhere, but where exactly we did not know. This would be the first of MANY castles visited on this trip. We didn’t know that this would turn out to be the trip of castles, but it did and we were not mad about it. Thinking back on it now, entering this first one was so exciting. There is nothing like this in the US where most of the architecture or ruins to be found are only a couple hundred years old. Additionally, nothing in Monfragüe National Park was really regulated like in national parks back home. There were no park officials or tickets/passes/permits to purchase or trinkets to blow your money on, it was just an open space to enjoy with awe and respect. We just really enjoyed the way in which we were able to freely explore this beautiful place. Side bar: Not trying to say we dislike the national parks in North America but getting past the crowds and into the “good stuff” takes more “doing” than what we encountered here, just an observation.

Since we didn’t know exactly when or where we would be landing, we did not schedule a tour of the cave beneath the castle but we did pass the entrance on the walk up. Per the website it does look like that would be something very cool to check out. Once we got to the top of the hill we were able to explore the castle and its surrounding ruins. On the way up the tower there was a wee window that we of course had to crawl into. Don’t worry, it narrowed at the end so I had no danger of falling out. We just seem to have a strange affinity for getting close to the edge or crawling through tight spaces I guess.

Monfragüe was built in the 9th century by the Arabs to defend the passage to the Tagus river. Like we learned in Toledo, many structures originally built by Arabs or for Muslim communities in Spain were later taken over by Christians. Castillo de Monfragüe passed into Christian hands in the 15th century. At the time it transitioned to Christian control the structures were expanded and these expansions are what remains that can be explored today.

We-woo-wow, look at that view. We watched vultures swooping through the clouds and gazed over acres of trees, rocks and river. After exploring the castle and its surrounding ruins a bit more we felt there was still more nature to be enjoyed so we continued on a path that lead to a “fountain.” I will note that this park, as well as many other places in Spain did not have any bathrooms, not even a pit toilet so as always come prepared to hold it or leave no trace please. This is something the US parks have up on Spain, most parks in the US have at least passable toilet facilities.

You can’t beat the fairytale qualities of this trail, it was dripping with moss covered stones, twisted trees and mushrooms popping up on logs as well as some robust and lovely creatures such as this absolute unit of a black beetle. I was just waiting for a hobbit or centaur or something to come strolling out from a craggy outcropping, but alas, none presented themselves.

It was a lovely stroll to the fountain which you can see below and if we were not trying to move on to fit in a visit to the nearby castle at Trujillo we could have likely walked a good while longer.

We ambled back the way we had come and down to our car where we set off for our next stop, the castle at Trujillo. It was only about a 50 minute drive to reach the next stony monument and after navigating another tight twisty city street situation we arrived only a few minutes before the official afternoon opening time of 4:30pm.

Anyone reading this a Game of Thrones fan? If so, the castle at Trujillo was used in the filming of the show as a representation of Casterly Rock in the last episode of season seven. Although we did not book an official “Game of Thrones tour,” which apparently exists, as fans of the show it is just a fun tidbit to be able to say we were there. I do not think that a guided tour would have been necessary to enjoy this castle, we certainly enjoyed it just fine on our own. There was actually parking here, and you could drive right up to the castle that overlooks the town. This was an unusual find as many of the streets in these small towns are too narrow for parking and most cities seem to only have paid parking garages.

The entrance gave us this superb photo op with this little crooked tree perfectly framed in another of our favorite keyhole shaped archways. The castle at Trujillo was built in the 13th century on remains of, you guessed it, an Arab built fortress. It had square towers and a lot of intact castle walls to walk along. Entrance fee was only two euros per person, super duper reasonable.

Visiting in the afternoon/evening made for just the right light to get some totally ethereal shots. There were also hardly any people around at this castle. I think we only saw maybe four other humans while traipsing about the expansive grounds. There was a cistern, or in Spanish an aljibe, in the enclosed courtyard where you could walk down under ground and along raised walkways with water on all sides. It was quite dark under there so no photos in the cistern.

Having just come from Monfragüe which was essentially one tower and a few other ruins to this more expansive “movie set famous” iteration, we inadvertently had visited castles at each end of the spectrum of what we would encounter over the next ten days. Talk about foreshadowing, am I right? It was extremely interesting to see the varying degrees of preservation/renovation that these historic sites presented as we continued on our Spanish castle journey.

Seriously, this was only day two in country and we could not believe how beautiful and empty this place was. It was as if it was made just for us. One thing to remember though is that typically when people visit Spain they are staying in big cities like Madrid, Barcelona, or Valencia to name a few. As we mentioned earlier, we were exploring more rural and extreme locales on this particular journey. After thoroughly exploring our second castle, we struck out to Montánchez where we would be eating WAY too much dinner and then camping in our newly acquired tent where we would learn from our host that we were definitely in “deep Spain”. But that’s a story for another day, so keep following along with us, we are so happy you are here.