Obidos

Our last visit in this part of Portugal before we fly off to Madeira on Monday morning for our dose of winter sun; and what a lovely village to round of this section of our trip. The pic. above is the aqueducto used to bring water to the village many centuries past.

The end of the aqueducto in a plaza in the village.

The entrance into the village through the fortified walls.

The road into the village does not run straight through but does a dogleg, I suppose this was for better security.

Once inside lots of little streets and courtyards.

Little churches.

Very attractive houses.

More of the same, bit of a tourist trap but ever such a pretty one.

Top of the village - looks like the remains of Santa's Grotto.

The castle at the very top.

Walking back down through the back streets and alleyways.

Just as pretty as the Main Street.

Looking back, very impressive.

What a great view.

Approaching the main gate to leave the village.

Obidos a beautiful village with a long and rich history, settled by the Celts, Romans and Moors retaken by Alphonso the first king of Portugal in 1148. Scene of a battle in the Peninsula Wars and the meeting place of the April Captains during the Carnation Revolution of 1974. 

Castelo & Convento de Cristo, Tomar, Portugal

Same scene from hotel window of the castle at Tomar, taken after dark.

Saturday morning and no rain, well the heavy stuff held off for a couple of hours, just enough time to visit the outside of the castle. Built by the Nights Templers in the 12th century after their disillusion around a hundred years later became a convent and now a national monument.

 Quite some building, this is the main concourse inside the walls, leads up to the church with 16 sides.

 Very impressive doorway into the church.

More of the walls from the inside.

This part of the building extends from the church, part of the Convent.

Ruined section.

Another shot of the 16 sided church.

Lots of gardens to feed all the inhabitants.

Back in Tomar. Photo of a mill wheel.

The only pic I got in the town, the rain returned so we headed off to our next stop - Obidos.

 

Guimaraes to Tomar via Viseu, Portugal.

The weather has been getting worse by the day, rain, rain and more rain with high winds, we have just kept ahead of the floods, which are now causing some problems in Northern Portugal.  We are now just north of Lisbon, it's still raining but not quite as hard. Recap of the last few days - sorry about the rain drops on the camera lens.

 Guimaraes birthplace of the Portuguese Nation. This huge building is the Paco dos Duques built by the Duke of Braganza

 

The inner courtyard of the palace, the covered archway above opens into the private chapel - picture below.

 

The main reception room

Another one of the reception rooms.

The Dukes office

This wonderful desk in his office, there was a second one on the other side of the tapestry though not quite as flashy. Most of the furniture on display is from the 16th. to 18th. Century.

Statue of Alfonso 1 first king of Portugal.

Because of the weather we were unable to get any photos of the town itself, from what we were able to see its worth another visit.

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The next day we visited Viseu, again the weather got in the way but between storms got a photo of the Pousada de Viseu, where we spent the night - wonderful hotel.

 For the next night we were in Tomar, another interesting place. The rain stopped long enough for me to get this pic. of the castle on the hill overlooking the town.