Over time, there are many uses that can be given to a fortress whose defensive function is no longer needed. These are usually converted into a museum , a town hall or a hotel or parador . The latter is the case of the castle of Santa Catalina (Jaén) .
The fortress is located on one of the most spectacular spots in the province, the Cerro de Santa Catalina , from which you can see practically the entire province. Dominating the hill, the castle has an incredible walled enclosure defended by six towers.
The history of the castle
As the official website indicates, the first settlers on the hill were the Iberians , in the 4th century BC, who built an oppidum (walled town) on the side of the castle, of which archaeological remains are still preserved. Although the first construction would not be carried out until the 8th-9th century , a period in which the Muslims built a citadel. With administrative and defensive functions, it was replaced by a large defensive fortress on the top of the hill from the 10th century.
After the Christian conquest , Fernando III began the construction of a new fortress in the 13th century, on the highest part of the old Muslim fortress. Thus, during the Middle Ages, three fortifications coexisted : the New Alcázar, the one known as the Old Alcázar (with the remains of the old Islamic fortification) and a walled redoubt from the Muslim period known as the Abrehuà castle .
However, the most notable changes were made between the years 1810 and 1812, during the War of Independence . During this period, the Napoleonic army converted the fortress of Jaén into the largest and most important base of the French army of the Upper Guadalquivir.
Saint Catalina Castle.
The inn and the mystery of room 22
After the French withdrawal, the fortress was abandoned, but in the middle of the 20th century the construction of the current Parador de Turismo began. The work was carried out on the land occupied by the remains of the Old Islamic Alcázar.
The building maintains a spectacular structure that dominates the entire city, but it also keeps a mystery in one of its rooms. This is room 22 (401 after the restoration of the Parador), where several of the guests who have stayed in it say they have experienced paranormal phenomena.
As the ABC of Seville explains , some of the clients of the Parador claim to have felt the presence of someone invisible crying, electrical anomalies, drops in temperature or doors and drawers that open and close on their own. Among the testimonies stands out that of a worker, who saw a Maghrebi woman who was in what is now the cafeteria during the works of the inn. 
The Parador.
For their part, other guests filed a complaint with the hotel management, since the customer in the superior room had not stopped moving furniture, screaming and crying throughout the night . However, there is no room on the upper floor, but the roof.
Many also say they have heard people running down the corridor, knocking on doors and even seeing the appearance of a woman dressed in Arab clothing who, from a corner, was staring at them. So much so, that this ” ghost ” is known as Jasmina, a woman who would have been murdered in the Parador tower.
How to get
To get to the Parador de Jaén from Granada you must take the A-44 road and the journey time is approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. For its part, from Córdoba the trip takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes on the A-306 road.
