More than people or locality, in Alburquerque deserves that we call "city". And is that this word has chivalrous connotations which are adapted with a total property to this medieval commune.

Since him far, before arriving already much, we can see, marked on the rock, a silhouette enormous guard of one of the better preserved castles of the band (the border with Portugal). The Moon castle.

Alburquerque offers a good number of monumental and architectonic elements worthy to visit, but none of them has such an amount of interest with this splendid Castle. The fortress count it like practically impregnable and to judge by the facts appears that thus it was throughout the centuries, and is that all the enclosure is thought as a framework of defence that each detail obliged with the invader to expose his more vulnerable side. As many things is curious can be managed to know of a construction of this type, especially when, as in this case, we have a guide which explains us each detail during a complete route. (And a very important detail, the guided tour is free, but must be carried out at certain hours of the day. The remainder of time the enclosure remains closed. Monday one closes with the public).

The Castle, although it is not too large, is preserved perfectly. It is composed of four sectors of defence, which are spread out along the northern slope of the hill on which it affirms, and for where it has the entry since the population. The first enclosure is a small wall vauban which it was built under Portuguese mandate between the 1705 and 1716. The second element of defence is a slope strategically conceived to facilitate the attack on the attacker, since in the rise it would leave with discovered the part of the body which the escudo does not cover. We arrive thus at the court of weapons, where it proves to be easy to transport at that time swords and knights. There we find the church of Holy María of the Castle, the canteen, the dining room, housing for the troop, as well as a cistern perfectly designed to be nourished rainwater (in preparation for any attack). All that chaired by a beautiful tower of monitoring, the tower of the Homage, built by Don Álvaro de Luna, and whose access is found the zone higher than the castle, the zone noble, separated from the place of weapons by only one door and defended by a matacán which would allow, if necessary, to reveal stones and oil while boiling with the enemy. In this part of the castle, in addition to the tower of the Homage, where the Mister had his room, we find also the tower of the Five Ends (this name must see with the five tops of its pentagonal plant), separated from what is preceding by a beautiful drawbridge, the house the Mayor or the right-hand man of the Mister and will dungeons them.

In general, it surprises the superb conservation of all the enclosure. The moon castle was most important of the five Castles placed strategically in this zone of the band to defend the border. Since him one could consider the arrival of a troop to more than three days of way, like supervising the neighbour fortress of Castillo de Vide, built by our Portuguese neighbours to control the movements of the Castilian armies (perfectly visible in clear days). This one is a visit which undoubtedly is worth the sorrow.