Portugal

A Karen Brown Recommended Itinerary

Medieval Monuments

Recommended Itinerary Length:

Highlights:

Summary: This itinerary routes you to a number of the most notable medieval monuments in Portugal. It begins with a tour of the ancient region known as Estremadura, which comes from the Latin for “beyond the River Douro,” now encompassing only the strip between the Tagus and the sea north of Lisbon. This was one of the earliest areas wrested from the Moors in the 12th century and boasts some of the best-preserved historic sights in Portugal. Next the itinerary turns inland, crossing the fertile country known as Ribatejo, meaning “the banks of the River Tagus,” where farming and cattle raising are the primary industries, and ends in the Upper Alentejo. Alentejo means “beyond the Tagus,” which makes sense when you realize these regions were named by the Christians as they made their way down from the north. This area was of particular importance in the 13th and 14th centuries because, once recaptured, it formed the border between the Portuguese kingdom and the Moors to the south and between Portugal and the most accessible route from Spain to the east.