Habsburg and Bourbon Spain

Fuenterrabía

Today: Spain

Years: 1492–1833
Role: Fortress town on the French border

A town founded in 1203, walled and standing at the mouth of the Bidasoa on the French border, it was the first place attacked whenever Spain and France went to war. Navarrese troops took it on 18 October 1521, and the French siege of 1638 won it the title «Muy noble, muy leal, muy valerosa y muy siempre fiel». Irún broke away from it in 1766, and in 1794, during the War of the Convention, the fortifications around it were blown up.

What to see today

Castillo de Carlos V (Parador de Hondarribia) (Castillo de Carlos V): Castle, 16th century
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción y del Manzano (Santa María de la Asunción y del Manzano): Church, c. 1566 to 1766

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