Castell de Capdepera

Inside these walls a whole town once sheltered: at its peak in the 16th century, more than a hundred houses stood crowded along the hillside within the ramparts, a walled village rather than a single keep. Jaume II ordered the fortress walls raised from 1300, giving the coast a refuge from the pirate raids that plagued Mallorca for centuries. Families lived inside until the 16th century, after which the site was abandoned, then pressed back into service as a military garrison through the 18th century until the last soldiers left in 1854. Private owners held the castle for over a century until the town council took it back in 1983, and it has stood open to visitors ever since.