Hondarribia was the second town in Guipuzcoa to receive the Charter in the year 1203 after San Sebastian and was the first to be founded by a Castilian king. Its strategic location, its importance as a fortified town and the development of its defence systems made this village, later a town, exceptional.Already fortified in the Middle Ages, it would not reach its maximum splendour until the first years of the sixteenth century. Its important commercial and trading activities, along with its significant fishing activity, converted Hondarribia into one of the most important enclaves in Guipuzcoa.Its history is marked by successive re-constructions due to fires, such as those that broke out in 1461 and 1498, and the different sieges to which is was submitted., of which those that caused most devastation happened in 1521, 1638, 1719 and 1794. This last one caused the partial destruction of its Renaissance fortifications and the final loss of its condition as a fortified town.The fortified area contains a rectangular plan in a framework of cobbled streets marked by beautiful buildings with forged iron balconies and wide, carved eaves of great architectural beauty. On the top of the hill, next to the Plaza de Armas, Charles V’s castle rises up, built upon another medieval castle, traces of which can still be seen.