The Alcázar — a severe, four-towered fortress on Toledo's highest point — has been burned, sacked, and rebuilt so many times that what you see today is largely a 20th-century reconstruction. Romans had a palace here, Visigoths a fort, and successive Spanish monarchs a series of increasingly grand residences. The building now houses the Museo del Ejército (Army Museum), one of Spain's largest military collections.
The museum fills the entire structure — weapons from the Reconquista, armour from the imperial period, maps, models, and the legendary story of the Civil War siege told in a dedicated section. It is serious and well-curated, neither triumphalist nor apologetic. Whether or not military history is your thing, the views from the terrace justify the climb: the entire old city spreads below you in every direction.
Entrance is free on Sundays. Allow two hours if you plan to engage with the exhibits, or forty-five minutes if you're mainly here for the view and the story of the siege.