Day 1-Day 3 – TARIFA

Tariff is a Spanish town located at the bottom of the Iberian Peninsula across the Strait of Gibraltar facing Morocco. It’s a one hour ferry ride from Tangier in Morocco. I left Tangier in the sun and arrived in Tarifa to drizzle which turned to horizontal rain halfway between the ferry and the customs hall. I was drenched, but only on one side.

It was a short 5 minute walk to my accommodation in the walled old city of Tarifa. Even in the drizzle and rain it’s a charming place to wander. White washed houses old style ornate street lighting and the buildings have some character.

I stayed at the Eole Tarifa Rooms guesthouse, which is beautiful. HERE

There are some lovely ceramic tile signs on the buildings, some historical and some more modern.

Even though it was Grey and drizzly, I took my umbrella and went for a walk round the streets of the old town. The old town doesn’t cover a huge area so it was easy to wander without getting too misplaced. What is nice is the lack of vehicles. Only residents and service vehicles are allowed in and even then, only in some areas.

This is a housing complex belonging to bull fighter Antnio Ordonez and his family and heirs. Known as the “Ordonez dynasty” who still continue the bull fighting tradition.

The Castle of Santa Catalina is located on the hill of Santa Catalina. This hill was one of the islands that later joined the mainland due to the sand from the beach and the sediments carried by the stream that crossed Tarifa. It owes its current name to an old hermitage dedicated to Santa Catalina de Siena, whose only graphic evidence is a drawing made in 1567.

Due to its elevated position and strategic control over the Isla de las Palomas and the castle, it began to have military use. In 1771 the hermitage was converted into a gunpowder store. During the War of Independence, the English demolished it, employing prisoners from Tarifa as labor. They carried out the works of a fort for artillery, reinforced by the construction of a deep dry moat, excavated in the same rock of the hill, and that today is still partially visible. After the war, in 1813, the English left Tarifa.

In 1928, the hill of Santa Catalina was requested by the Navy command to build a castle that would serve as a complement to the lighthouse of the Island to function as a traffic light for the port. The works of the slender building were finished in 1933, in a historicist style that we can classify as neogothic. It was used by the British as a flag station and semaphore station. After the Civil War, the defenses were reinforced with several bunkers, connected to each other by tunnels.

In 1972, the Navy’s meteorological observatory was installed, which in 2000 was mved to another place, with Santa Catalina once again becoming municipal property

Tarifa stands where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea overlooking the Gibraltar Strait.

Santa Maria Square. Part of the original city serving as a bullfighting arena at one point. It has also been called Constitution Square, 1868 Revolution Square, Republic Square and more.

The Municipal Library. Was built in 1927 as a school for boys during Rivera’s dictstorship, it later became a flamenco club.

Church of San Mateo built in the 16th Century. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century although its façade was not completed until the beginning of the 18th century

The temple was built at the expense of D. Fadrique Enrique de Rivera, Marquis of Tarifa, who, due to a lawsuit with the residents of the city, left it unfinished on its facade, it was completed two centuries later, in a neoclassical style with local stone.

The castle is named after the heroic deed of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, then governor of the fortress. In 1294, the Muslims besieged the castle and, having Alonso’s son in their power, urged him to give it up or his son would die. Alonso Pérez de Guzmán preferred to sacrifice his son before handing over the town, and even threw down his own knife from the octagonal tower for them to kill him with.

The Castle of Guzmán el Bueno was restored during the first half of the 17th century, when it was still used defensively as a bastion against the Berber pirates who ravaged these coasts during the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the 18th century, part of the walls of the Castle of Guzmán el Bueno were adapted for the installation of artillery and, during the Peninsular War, it was used as a barracks for the Hispanic-British troops who defended Tarifa from the French army (1811-1812)

In 1989, it was handed over to the civil administration and has been municipal property ever since.

I’m sure Senora Guzman was thrilled with her husband!!

The battlements and view from the top of the wall.

Canon atop the Castle tower being treated with anti- rust solution with what looks like a cannonball shoved in the end.

Wall decorations and tiles from the 16th century.

The final night in town and there’s a Halloween sideshow alley set up in the Alameda.