Inside an Almohad wall resting on Roman foundations, Cáceres has kept almost whole the quarter where noble families watched one another from their towers. A queen had those towers cut down, the city grew poor and no one had the money to knock anything down: that is how it reached us, a World Heritage Site since 1986. Thirteen stops between the Plaza Mayor, the tower of the legend of the forty knights, the arch skewed for carriages, the square of palaces, the co-cathedral with its cedar altarpiece, the house of the fig tree, the palace of Moctezuma's descendants, the house where the Catholic Monarchs stayed, the square of the dragon-slaying saint, the church built over the mosque, the only tower that kept its battlements, the cistern hidden beneath a museum and the white quarter of the old Jewish neighbourhood. Approximate audio duration: 24 minutes.
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Cáceres: la ciudad de las torres cortadas que se salvó por quedarse quieta
Dentro de una muralla almohade asentada sobre cimientos romanos, Cáceres conserva casi entero el barrio donde los linajes nobles se vigilaban desde sus torres. Una reina mandó cortarlas, la ciudad se empobreció y nadie tuvo dinero para tirar nada abajo: así llegó hasta hoy, Patrimonio de la Humanidad desde 1986. Trece paradas entre la Plaza Mayor, la torre de la leyenda de los cuarenta caballeros, el arco torcido para los carruajes, la plaza de los palacios, la concatedral del retablo de cedro, la casa de la higuera, el palacio de los descendientes de Moctezuma, la casa donde se alojaron los Reyes Católicos, la plaza del santo del dragón, la iglesia sobre la mezquita, la única torre que conservó sus almenas, el aljibe escondido bajo un museo y el barrio blanco de la antigua judería. Duración aproximada de audio: 24 minutos.
Tour stops
13 stops · ~24 min of audio · 1.02 km on foot (~15 min walking) · about 45 min in total
You are in the Plaza Mayor of Cáceres, a long, sloping square with arcades along one side. Look up at the other side: a wall of stone and rammed earth, towers, rooftops and bell towers. That is the old city, and this square has always stood outside it, at its feet.
The square was born as a market precisely because it lay outside the gates. Goods were sold here, taxes were paid, fairs were held. Today the nineteenth-century town hall closes one side.
What you see in front of you has layers. In the first century BC the Romans founded the colony of Norba Caesarina here. Centuries later the Almo…
2
The Tower of the Forty Knights
In front of you is the Torre de Bujaco, the great square block that watches over the Plaza Mayor. It is about twenty-five metres tall. Its body is Almohad, from the twelfth century, and at its base you can see reused Roman ashlar blocks.
Attached to it is the small Ermita de la Paz, an eighteenth-century chapel with a little balcony open to the square. Two eras, one leaning on the other, as everywhere in this city.
In the twelfth century Cáceres was a frontier that kept changing hands. In 1169 the Portuguese warlord Geraldo the Fearless took it, and soon afterwards it passed to King Ferdinan…
3
The Arch Skewed for Carriages
You are in front of the Arco de la Estrella, the main entrance to the old city from the Plaza Mayor. Above, in a small shrine, stands the image of the Virgin of the Star that gives it its name.
Notice something odd: the arch does not pass straight through the wall. It is skewed, on a diagonal. Walk underneath and look at the ceiling: the vault twists.
There is a practical reason. The arch was built in 1726, to a design by the architect Manuel de Lara Churriguera, to replace a narrower medieval gate. The street inside leaves at an angle, and the oblique arch let carriages turn without scrapin…
4
The Square of the Noble Lineages
You are in the Plaza de Santa María, the heart of the old city. Look around: facades of golden stone, coats of arms carved above the doors, small high windows. There are hardly any shops. This is a quarter made for living behind walls.
After the Christian conquest of 1229, King Alfonso IX of León shared out the city among families of knights. Through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries those lineages built their houses here: Ovando, Mayoralgo, Golfín, Carvajal, Saavedra.
They were not just palaces for show. They were fortified houses. The families lived split into rival factions, and each …
5
The Cedar Altarpiece and the Saint's Shiny Toes
You are in front of the co-cathedral of Santa María, a Gothic church of granite, sober, almost military. Its construction spread mainly over the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, on top of an earlier church raised after the conquest.
On the corner stands a bronze statue of a barefoot friar, very thin, his gaze turned upwards. It is Saint Peter of Alcántara, a sixteenth-century Franciscan from Extremadura, famous for his life of penance. The statue is by the sculptor Enrique Pérez Comendador.
Look at his feet. The toes shine, worn smooth. It is a custom to touch them for luck, and thousands …
6
The House of the Round Tower and the Fig Tree
You are on Calle de la Amargura, in front of the Casa de los Carvajal. Look at the corner facade, with its arched doorway and coat of arms above. And behind it, peering out, a round tower, unlike the square ones you have seen so far.
That tower is older than the palace. It is usually dated to the Muslim period, and the Carvajal family incorporated it into their house when they rebuilt it between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The house is also called the Casa Quemada, the Burnt House. It suffered a fire, and tradition explains it with a tale of rivalry between families. It is the kin…
7
The Aztec Princess and the Conquistador from Cáceres
You are in front of the Palacio de Toledo-Moctezuma, pressed against the wall. Notice the dome crowning the building, a rarity among so many towers. And the name: Moctezuma, the emperor of the Mexica.
The story begins with a man from Cáceres, Juan Cano de Saavedra. He went to the Americas and took part in the conquest of Mexico with Hernán Cortés.
There he married Isabel Moctezuma, daughter of the emperor Moctezuma II. Her original name was Tecuichpo. She had survived the fall of Tenochtitlan and several marriages before she wed Juan Cano.
The children of that marriage joined two worlds. On…
8
The House Where the Catholic Monarchs Slept
You are in front of the Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo, one of the most beautiful in the city. Look at the facade: a blend of Gothic and Plateresque, with finely carved windows and, along the top, a crest of pierced stone.
The Golfines were one of the most powerful lineages in Cáceres. They had two palaces, the lower one, this, and the upper one, in the high part of the city. Hence the names, de Abajo and de Arriba.
Look for the coats of arms. Next to the family's arms are those of the Catholic Monarchs. According to tradition, Isabella and Ferdinand stayed in this house on their visits to…
9
The Dragon-Slaying Saint and the Conquest of 1229
You are in the Plaza de San Jorge. Above, at the top of the stairway, rises the church of San Francisco Javier, with its white facade and twin towers. The Jesuits built it in the eighteenth century, which is why the slope beside it is called the Cuesta de la Compañía, after the Society of Jesus.
The square's name refers to the city's patron saint. Cáceres was taken for good by King Alfonso IX of León in 1229, after several failed sieges. Tradition places the date on 23 April, Saint George's Day.
Ever since, the warrior saint has been the patron of Cáceres. And every year, on the eve of his f…
10
The Church Over the Mosque
You are in front of the church of San Mateo, at the highest point of the old city. Look at its sober stone facade and the tower rising beside it. You are on top of the hill where it all began.
Tradition says this church was raised on the site of the main mosque of the Muslim city. That was common practice: after a conquest, the defeated side's main temple became the victor's, or was pulled down so another could be built on top.
The building you see is mostly fifteenth and sixteenth century, though it took a long time to finish. Inside are tombs of noble families, just as in Santa María. San …
11
The Only Tower That Kept Its Battlements
You are in front of the Torre de las Cigüeñas, the slender tower of the palace of the same name. Look at the top: it has battlements, those stone teeth that shielded the defenders. Now think of all the towers you saw before. None of them had them.
The explanation lies in the fifteenth century. The nobles of Cáceres lived in factional warfare, and in the struggle for the throne of Castile many backed Joanna, the rival of Isabella the Catholic.
When Isabella prevailed, in 1477, she ordered the towers of the city's noble houses to be lopped: their tops cut off and their battlements removed. It …
12
The Cistern Hidden Beneath the Museum
You are in the Casa de las Veletas, home of the Museo de Cáceres. The name comes from the weathervanes, veletas, that once crowned the building. The present house is from the early modern period, but it was built on the site of the old Muslim alcazar.
Go down to the basement. There lies the city's hidden jewel: the Almohad cistern, the fortress's water store. It is an underground hall of horseshoe arches resting on columns, divided into five aisles.
Look at the water at the bottom. It still fills with rain today. And when the light is low, the arches are reflected on the surface and seem to …
13
The White Quarter of the Old Jewish Neighbourhood
You are in the San Antonio quarter, at the edge of the old city. Suddenly everything has changed: no more granite palaces, but little whitewashed houses, low doors, flowerpots, narrow streets curving downhill. This is another Cáceres, the city of ordinary people.
This was the quarter of the old Jewish neighbourhood. Inside the wall lived a Jewish community devoted to trade, crafts and money-lending, a few metres from the palaces of the Christian lineages.
Look for the small chapel of San Antonio. According to tradition it was built on the site of the quarter's old synagogue. After the expuls…
How long does the "Cáceres: the City of Beheaded Towers That Survived by Standing Still" audio tour take?
It has about 24 minutes of audio across 13 stops and a 1.02 km walking route (~15 min on foot). Plan roughly 45 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Square at the Foot of the Wall" (coordinates 39.4764, -6.3718). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Cáceres and pick "Cáceres: the City of Beheaded Towers That Survived by Standing Still". No account required to start.
Free app
No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
