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Originally a Roman fort, the castle is one of the most recognizable in Spain due to it's unique shape.

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The Alcazar of Segovia's towers and hilltop silhouette were striking enough to catch Hollywood's attention. The 1967 musical Camelot, starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, used the castle as a filming location, its medieval walls standing in perfectly for the legendary court of King Arthur.

Disney's animators also studied it when designing the Wicked Queen's castle in Snow White, making it one of the most filmed and referenced fortresses in the world.

The site started as a Roman military outpost, then passed through Visigoth and Moorish hands before Christian forces recaptured Segovia in 1088. The Almoravid Berbers had built a wooden fortress over the Roman foundations, but little of that structure survives. The castle first appears in written records in 1120.

King Alfonso VIII transformed it from a wooden fort into a stone palace in the late 12th century, making it his primary royal residence. His wife, Eleanor of England, was the sister of Richard the Lionheart, and together they turned the Alcazar into one of the most important royal seats in Castile.

In 1474, Isabella I took refuge inside the Alcazar after learning of King Henry IV's death. She was proclaimed Queen of Castile and Leon the following day, right here in Segovia. That moment set in motion the unification of Spain and the eventual funding of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas.

A fire gutted the interior in 1862, and the rooms you walk through today are largely a 19th century reconstruction based on drawings made before the blaze.

Climb the Tower of John II for views across the plains of Castile stretching in every direction. Walk through the Hall of Kings, where a gilded frieze of 52 Castilian monarchs circles the upper walls of the room. The armory holds weapons and armor dating back centuries, and kids tend to linger there longer than anywhere else in the castle.