MILITARY ROUTE

The viscountcy of Cabrera articulated itself through a network of castles and fortified houses, which were the seats of politic and military power for the nobility in the Middle Ages. This defensive system was supplemented with a number of walled-in villages and watchtowers.

Hostalric appears in historical records dating from 1106 under the name Ostalrico or Quota. However, we do not know whether the town already had walls at that time. In the 13th century, James I the Conqueror granted a licence to the Viscount of Cabrera to hold a weekly market in the town. The letter of settlement of the town of Hostalric was signed between 1242 and 1243. As such, the defensive structure we can still see today possibly dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. Approximately 600 metres of fortified wall have been preserved with eight towers (one of which is called the Cabrera Tower), along with the Hortes (Kitchen Gardens) Gate (the only gate of the wall preserved in its original state), the reconstructed Barcelona Gate and, outside the walls, the Fares Tower and Covent Tower.