2024-12-18 – Zurich Airport – Lisboa 2024-12-19 – Lisboa – Belém – Alfama 2024-12-20 – Lisboa 2024-12-21 – Lisboa – Sintra 2024-12-22 – Lisboa – Museu Marinha, Belém 2024-12-23 – Lisboa 2024-12-24 – Lisboa 2024-12-25 – Lisboa – Vasco da Gama Tower – Tagus estuary 2024-12-26 – Lisboa 2024-12-27 – Lisboa – Coimbra 2024-12-28 – Coimbra 2024-12-29 – Coimbra – Oporto 2024-12-30 – Oporto 2024-12-31 – Oporto 2025-01-01 – Oporto 2025-01-02 – Oporto – Guimarães 2025-01-03 – Guimarães 2025-01-04 – Guimarães – Aveiro 2025-01-05 – Aveiro – Óbidos 2025-01-06 – Óbidos 2025-01-07 – Óbidos – Lisboa 2025-01-08 – Lisboa – Zurich – Lugano

Aveiro – Óbidos

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View of Óbidos on the approach by bus. There has been a fortified settlement on this hilltop since the Romans established their Luso-Roman castro and oppidum, referred to by Pliny the Elder as Eburobrittium. A forum, baths and other structures have been discovered. After the Romans came the Visigoths in the 5th and 6th centuries, and then the Muslims in the 8th century, who fortified the town.

Main street in Óbidos, a walled medieval town 70km north of Lisbon

Óbidos castle. The first king of Portugal, Afonso I (1112 – 1185) conquered the settlement in January, 1148.

A view to the west from the wall of Óbidos. During the Peninsular War, when the British, under Wellington, allied with the Portuguese against the Spanish and Napoleon, the Battle of Roliça (1808) was fought near here. In fact, the fortification in Óbidos fired the first artillery rounds that resulted in the first defeat of Napoleonic forces.

The barbican at the entrance to the castle inner courtyard

A view over Óbidos to the battlements

Panorama of Óbidos

Óbidos castle

Óbidos is the city of literature, and has many bookstores. One is in a church, and this one combines a grocery store with books.

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Travel Diary

2024-12-18 – Zurich Airport – Lisboa 2024-12-19 – Lisboa – Belém – Alfama 2024-12-20 – Lisboa 2024-12-21 – Lisboa – Sintra 2024-12-22 – Lisboa – Museu Marinha, Belém 2024-12-23 – Lisboa 2024-12-24 – Lisboa 2024-12-25 – Lisboa – Vasco da Gama Tower – Tagus estuary 2024-12-26 – Lisboa 2024-12-27 – Lisboa – Coimbra 2024-12-28 – Coimbra 2024-12-29 – Coimbra – Oporto 2024-12-30 – Oporto 2024-12-31 – Oporto 2025-01-01 – Oporto 2025-01-02 – Oporto – Guimarães 2025-01-03 – Guimarães 2025-01-04 – Guimarães – Aveiro 2025-01-05 – Aveiro – Óbidos 2025-01-06 – Óbidos 2025-01-07 – Óbidos – Lisboa 2025-01-08 – Lisboa – Zurich – Lugano

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