Towns and Villages
Results
Number of results: 239
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Towns and VillagesCampo MaiorLike so many other towns in the Alentejo, Campo Maior is a quiet and peaceful town in the south of Portugal, situated very close to the Spanish border. Tradition has it that its origin can be explained by the wilful determination of three peasant (...)
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Towns and VillagesMonçãoThis fortified city on the bank of the River Minho, home to spas and the Alvarinho wine, was once the backdrop to the many battles between the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile... Its Sueve name Orosion was translated to Latin as Mons Sanctus that (...)
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Towns and VillagesSortelhaSurmounted by a castle built on a formidable crag at an altitude of 760 metres, the histocal village of Sortelha still retains its mediaeval appearance intact through the architecture of its rural granite houses.Sortelha had therefore part of an (...)
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Towns and VillagesLinhares da BeiraSituated on the western slopes of the Serra da Estrela, the historical village of Linhares da Beira was originally a Lusitanian hill fort. In fact, the Montes Hermínios (this was the Lusitanian name for the Serra da Estrela), with its pastureland (...)
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Towns and VillagesMafraThis town near Lisbon, in the "saloia" (rustic) area, which used to supply the capital with garden produce, is famous for its imposing Palace-Convent, the largest edifice in Portugal, built by order of King Dom João V in the 18th century. The king, (...)
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Towns and VillagesPalmelaThis town, located on one of the foothills of the Arrábida mountain range, has over the centuries attracted the various peoples who have passed through the Iberian Peninsula.It is believed to owe its name to the Romans, specifically to a praetor (...)
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Towns and VillagesBuçacoA large and majestic forest, the Serra do Buçaco is a genuine botanical garden where roughly 700 native and exotic species can be found, all of them protected by a Papal Bull issued in the seventeenth century threatening anyone damaging the trees (...)
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Towns and VillagesAlcoutimAlcoutim´s origins are presumably linked to the fact that it is situated at the place where the Guadiana becomes tidal. The vessels that traded metals and other wares were obliged to wait at this spot for hours, until the river conditions allowed (...)
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Towns and VillagesLeiriaLeiria has a river that flows uphill, a tower that does not have a cathedral, a cathedral that does not have a tower, and a High Street that is not straight. (According to a popular Portuguese rhyme.)For Dom Afonso Henriques, the first Christian (...)
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Towns and VillagesVila Real de Santo AntónioIn the sixteenth century, there existed a town known as Vila de Santo António de Arenilha, which was probably much closer to the sea. By the eighteenth century, this town had disappeared, having been engulfed by the sea and sand. It was, however, (...)
