El emir que se apellidaba Martínez : y 20 historias de castillos de España

The castles that dot our landscape are a captivating photograph of the past, revealed in stone. Their memory persists, and so do the legends. Once, they were the site of lavish feasts, havens for children running through their corridors, fearsome dungeons for the enemy, fortresses prepared for battle, or imperial resting places. The figures who appear in these pages breathed into the castles a spirit that still survives. Isabella I still emerges daily from the Hall of Kings in the Alcázar of Segovia on her way to her coronation; Eugénie de Montijo continues to transform Belmonte into a French palace like a capricious child; and the childish cries of little Constance of Aragon, imprisoned in the citadel of Villena, awaiting the hand of Prince Juan Manuel, can still be heard. They are part of Spain's history, its wars, its vicissitudes, its defeats, and its victories.