By Ines Keane
Stone first. Then the nests, big untidy platforms on towers and church tops, and then the narrowness of the lanes between them.
The city in brief
Cáceres sits in the centre of Extremadura, in south-western Spain, and is the capital of its province. Wikipedia gives its elevation as 459 metres and says it lies at the foot of the Sierra de la Mosca. It gives the municipal population for 2025 as 96,598, of whom 95,441 live in the city itself. It also says the municipality, at about 1,750 square kilometres, is the largest in Spain by area. The infobox says 1,750.23 and the text 1,750.33, so we give the rounded figure.
What UNESCO lists
UNESCO inscribed the Old Town of Cáceres in 1986 under criteria (iii) and (iv), with a minor boundary change in 2016. Its description calls it a walled ensemble of about 9 hectares, with a wall 1,174 metres long. Wikipedia gives the inscribed area as 60.63 hectares. The two figures are far apart and neither page explains why, so we show both.
UNESCO says the architecture reflects the city’s conflicts between Moors and Christians and a “blend of Roman, Islamic, Northern Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles”. It calls the walls an “exceptional testimony to the fortifications built in Spain by the Almohades”. For the fortified houses, palaces and towers it points to the 14th to 16th centuries, when rival noble factions ruled the city. The 15th century brought fortress-houses and the 16th palace-houses.
Towers and the stork tower
Both UNESCO and Wikipedia count about thirty towers from the Muslim period. The best known is the Torre del Bujaco, which Wikipedia dates to the 12th century. UNESCO says the Bujaco was modified in the Christian period, when new towers were also built.
A hotel-industry guide (Hosteltur, a trade publication) says the Torre de las Cigüeñas, part of the Palacio de las Cigüeñas, is the only tower that was not cut down and kept its battlements. Our reading: that fits UNESCO’s account of rival factions and their towers, but neither source links the two.
Squares and gates
The Plaza Mayor lies just outside the old town. Spain’s national tourism site (promotional) says it is ringed by arcades and was used for bullfights and, earlier, for jousting. Hosteltur says the town hall stands on it and that from the square you can see the Bujaco, the Arco de la Estrella and the Torre de los Púlpitos.
Both Wikipedia and the tourism site give the 18th century for the Arco de la Estrella. The tourism site says it was built to let carriages pass. Hosteltur says it leads to the Plaza de Santa María.
Two dates for one church
On the Plaza de Santa María stands the church of Santa María, a co-cathedral. Wikipedia calls it a 13th-century Gothic cathedral. Hosteltur says it was built between the 15th and 16th centuries. We do not choose. Hosteltur lists the neighbouring palaces: Episcopal, Carvajal, Ovando and Mayoralgo. Wikipedia dates the Carvajal Palace to the 15th century.
The Museum of Cáceres
Hosteltur says the museum occupies two buildings and is entered through the Casa de las Veletas, which the tourism site also names.
A November market
Wikipedia and the tourism site both list a medieval market in November. A hotel group’s visitor guide (promotional) calls it the Medieval Market of Three Cultures and says it fills the old town’s streets across the Christian, Moorish and Jewish quarters, with 150 stalls, craft workshops and woodworking and pottery demonstrations. That guide gives only “every autumn”, not dates, so we give none.
Food, briefly
Wikipedia names the sheep’s-milk cheese Torta del Casar, migas (fried breadcrumbs), stews and roast meats, and fig cake and honey among local foods. It gives no detail we could test, so we say no more.
What kind of sources these are
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre; Wikipedia; Spain’s national tourism site, which is promotional; a trade publication’s destination page; and a hotel group’s visitor guide, also promotional. No academic study was read.
What we left out
Prices, opening hours, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, the drinks Wikipedia lists, and the tourism site’s claim of the third-largest monument ensemble in Europe, which we could not test.
Quick answers
When did UNESCO list the Old Town of Cáceres? According to UNESCO, in 1986, under criteria (iii) and (iv), with a minor boundary change in 2016.
How long is the wall? According to UNESCO, 1,174 metres around a walled ensemble of about 9 hectares.
What is the Torre de las Cigüeñas? According to a trade publication, a tower of the Palacio de las Cigüeñas and the only tower not cut down.
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Roam first. Shop later.