It is very fortunate that things like the Serranos Towers are still standing. Otherwise, some would think that the stories about the medieval cities always being walled and that some people that lived in them never set a foot outside those walls were all tall tales.
The Serranos Towers are a resounding memory of those times. They defended the main gate of the city of Valencia since they were built, at the end of the fourteenth century. By then more than a century had passed since the Christian Reconquest of the city, and the old Arab wall had been replaced by one more to the taste of the new owners. An emblematic construction that, incidentally, also served to impress visitors and make it clear that this was a powerful and well-protected place. In the Middle Ages, you just could not fool around.
It seems that its name is because those who came from the nearby Sierra, which are the mountains, entered the city through this gate. But, do not think that they just came, greeted the soldiers and just went through, no. In here the corresponding tolls were paid and long, slow queues were formed, which must have been quite desperate for those who arrived at the foot of the wall late in the day. Because it turns out that, at nightfall, the gates were closed and those who had not managed to get in, were left out.
It was then time to look for an inn with a bed full of fleas, and if they weren't lucky, they would have to fall asleep out in the open looking at Valencia's moon.
This impressive and Gothic monument could tell six hundred years of stories, it has seen from sieges to royal ceremonies and was used as a prison for many noble knights. Also, it played an improvised role as a refuge for a few pieces of art evacuated from the Prado Museum during the Civil War, for this, something similar to a bunker was built which was dismantled after the war.
In short, you are in front of one of the two gates of the old city wall that have survived to this day. About the other gate, the Quart Towers, we have an audio guide that is waiting to be heard, so, go for it!
