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Arcos de Jalón Castle, dating from the 14th century, stands on the site of an old Arab fortress. It was besieged in the 14th century by the supporters of the Castilian King Pedro I, who fought against the rebel D. Fernán Gómez de Albornoz, supporter of his bastard brother Enrique de Trastamara.
This castle has a rectangular floor plan although it is quite irregular due to the fact that it adapts to the rugged land of a high and narrow hill that divides the town into two parts. A robust keep is attached to the castle walls which are made of thick stonework, horizontal brick rows and ashlar with stonecutter’s marks on the corners. There is only one entrance which is located high up and two loophole windows.
Inside there are remains of the structures that divided the tower, which once was taller, into different floors, and all throughout the perimeter, you can see where the foundation walls began and some towers that reinforced the structure.
This fortress is so unique due to the double-lined brick walls, a technique that mainly had a structural purpose, but has also given the castle beautiful reddish lines between the stonework. This construction method has a clear Mudejar origin which was most likely influenced by the amount of Muslims in the village and in the area of Aragon.
References:Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia located near Gradsko. It is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in North Macedonia. Stobi was built where the Erigon (Crna River) joins the Axios (Vardar), making it strategically important as a center for both trade and warfare.
Stobi developed from a Paeonian settlement established in the Archaic period. It is believed that in 217 BCE, Philip V annexed Paionia during his campaign against the Dardani who had entered Bylazora, the largest Paeonian town.
The city was first mentioned in writing by the historian Livy, in connection with a victory of Philip V of Macedon over the Dardani in 197 BC. In 168 BC, the Romans defeated Perseus and Macedonia was divided into four nominally independent republics. In 148 BC, the four areas of Macedonia were brought together in a unified Roman province. In the reign of Augustus the city grew in size and population.