Obidos
Just 5 minutes away is the beautiful town of Obidos. Once the wedding present of a queen, the preserved medieval town of Óbidos lying 100 km north of Lisbon is without doubt one of Portugal's most classic walled settlements. Walking the ramparts, visitors can enjoy views of windmills, vineyards and surrounding farmlands. In the residential area below, narrow cobblestone streets are lined with whitewashed houses sporting terracotta roofs. The shops are piled high with local handicrafts, while in spring the town is ablaze with geraniums, morning glories and bougainvillaea.
Resembling an open-air museum, this walled medieval town has been preserved to look like a picture-postcard, with its monuments, narrow winding streets and white-washed houses with windows and terraces full of flowers.
From Porta da Vila, the southern town gate whose interior is decorated with 18th century tiles, to Rua Direita, a street filled with small shops where visitors can buy traditional ceramics, wicker baskets, miniature windmills and hand-made embroidery and woollen articles, and to the 15th century royal castle that has been converted into an inn.
Óbidos seems to go back in time to the days when the Court visited the town. The massively-towered castle has now been converted into an elegant Pousada. It was the first one to be adapte
d and restored from a historical monument, itself a monument of national importance.
Also home of the Santa Maria Church Famous for being the site where the 10-year-old Afonso V married his cousin aged 8, also boasts exquisite 17th-century tiles and a fine Renaissance tomb.