Obidos Village

The Castle of Óbidos is a well-preserved medieval castle. The town's historic center is fully within the main local landmark: Óbidos Castle. It was built between the 12th and 14th Centuries and during that period it had major strategic and military relevance for Portugal, which was then an emerging nation. The long walls surrounding the village have an almost one-mile (1.5 km) perimeter and can visited by foot, allowing visitors to enjoy a great view of the village and also the surrounding landscape. Other highlights include the castle towers, the old gateways, and the cobbled streets with their regular design and traditional white houses. Ever since King Dinis offered the town as a wedding gift for his wife Isabel, Óbidos belonged to the Portuguese queens, right up until the 19th Century

Monastery of Alcobaca

The monastery was established in 1153 by the first Portuguese king, Afonso Henriques, and would develop a close association with the Portuguese monarchy throughout its seven-century-long history. This association led to the monastery becoming the richest and most influential in Portugal by 1300, with a population of almost 1,000 monks and business interests including farming, fishing, and trade. It closed in 1834, amid the dissolution of the monasteries in Portugal. The church and monastery were the first Gothic buildings in Portugal, and, together with the roughly older Augustinian Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, it was one of the most important medieval monasteries in Portugal. Due to its artistic, cultural, and historical relevance, it was included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list in 1989.