El Penyó de l'Alcalà (Peña de la Alcalá)

The Penyó de l'Alcalà, also known as Peña de la Alcalá, is a cylindrical watchtower perched on a rocky spike with extremely difficult access, facing the walled centre of Guadalest. The Muslim settlement in the area dates back to the early 11th century, though the fortification remains that survive today belong to the 12th century, heavily reworked in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Watching over a flooded valley

The tower is thought to have served as a joint lookout for Guadalest's two fortifications, the Castillo de San José and the now-vanished Alcozaiba castle, keeping watch over the valley now filled by the Guadalest reservoir. Only the lower half of the masonry tower survives; the 1644 earthquake, the same one that badly damaged the castle and the village's houses, left it in the ruined state seen today. The rock spike it sits on is so narrow and sheer that, from certain angles, it's hard to tell where the natural stone ends and the masonry begins.

Guadalest's silhouette

Despite its small size, the Penyó has become one of Guadalest's most recognisable shapes, visible from the Plaça de Sant Gregori viewpoint and from much of the reservoir's shoreline. It cannot be climbed because of the terrain, but it's easily seen from several points around the village and the road that circles it, and it tends to feature in the foreground of the area's best-known photographs of the reservoir and the valley beyond, a small landmark that punches well above its actual size.