Castillo de la Mota and the Sacred Heart

The hill you just climbed was once an island. Seriously. Go back a few thousand years and Monte Urgull sat completely surrounded by water, separated from the mainland. Over millennia, sediment from the Urumea River built up and formed a natural land bridge -- an isthmus -- that connected the island to the coast. The city grew on top of that connection. So when you walked up here from the Old Town, you were crossing what used to be open sea.

King Sancho the Seventh of Navarre -- they called him the Strong -- ordered a fortress built on this summit in eleven ninety-four to control direct access to the sea. What you see around you is the Castillo de la Mota, and it has been attacked, besieged, and battered more times than almost any other fortification in Spain. Major assaults hit in eighteen thirteen, eighteen twenty-three, eighteen thirty-six, and eighteen seventy-six during the Carlist Wars. Each time, defenders held out on this hilltop while the city below burned or changed hands.

Now look up. That enormous statue of Jesus with arms outstretched is the Sagrado Corazon -- the Sacred Heart. Sculptor Federico Coullaut created it in nineteen fifty, and the figure alone stands twelve and a half metres tall. Including its base, the full monument reaches twenty-four metres. It is visible from four miles out at sea, which means fishing boats and cargo ships have been using it as a landmark for over seventy years.

The fortress below the statue now houses the Casa de la Historia de Urgull, a museum that traces over eight hundred years of the city's story. But honestly, the best exhibit is the view. From up here you can see La Concha bay curving away to your left, Santa Clara island sitting in the middle of the water, and the mountains of the Basque Country fading into the distance.