Óbidos is a picturesque, medieval walled town in Portugal, located about an hour from Lisbon. It is known for its well-preserved castle and historic fortifications, charming cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed houses, stores, cafes, and churches. Visitors can explore the town’s castle, walk along the ancient walls, and experience its medieval atmosphere, which includes shops selling local crafts, a famous medieval market, and the sweet cherry liqueur known as Ginjinha.
Óbidos has a very rich history. The area around Óbidos was originally settled during Roman times, and archaeologists have found Roman artifacts galore. In 1210, King Dinis of Portugal gifted the town of Óbidos to his wife, Queen Isabel, as a wedding gift. This tradition made Óbidos a “Queen’s Town,” a title it still holds today, with the crown symbol present on its coat of arms. Óbidos is the real deal.
We started our visit by parking at the Estacionamento do Campo da Bola (Free), located just outside the main southern gate. Our AI buddy Claude directed us to this convenient parking area, no fuss, no muss.
The highlights of our Óbidos self-guided tour included:
Porta da Vila, the main 18th-century double-arched town gate, features a stunning interior adorned with traditional blue-and-white azulejo tiles depicting the Passion of Christ. As we passed through the gate on our way back to our car, a busker in a worn black suit stood inside the time portal arch, singing a spellbinding version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” accompanied by a lady playing a plaintive violin.
We walked slowly along the charming Rua Direita (Main Street), a narrow pedestrian street lined with whitewashed houses and artisan shops with flowered windows and doorways. We stopped at a local shop to try Ginja de Óbidos—a sour cherry liqueur served in a small chocolate cup. It’s the pride of Portugal, and quite popular with the tourists. I found it sickly sweet, and it reminded me of cough syrup.
The Igreja de Santa Maria (Church of Saint Mary) is located halfway up Rua Direita in the main square. The exterior is definitely showing signs of wear and tear, but inside we discovered a magnificent Renaissance interior, with time-polished stone walls lined with 17th-century tiles and paintings by Joséfa de Óbidos. The black table chairs seemed out of place and out of time.
We strolled leisurely to the end of Rua Direita, where the 12th-century Castelo de Óbidos (Óbidos Castle) commanded a towering position over the town. The main building is now a Pousada (luxury hotel), but we were free to explore the impressive fortress grounds and take in the massive stone architecture.
We walked some of the castle ramparts, the massive medieval walls completely encircling the town. The 1-mile loop offered panoramic views of the red rooftops and the surrounding farmland countryside. There were no railings atop the walls, and it was very exposed, so if you have a fear of heights, you should probably stay low.
On the way back along the upper street level of town, we stopped at Mercado Biológico (Organic Market & Bookstore), a stunning bookstore housed in a former church (Igreja de São Tiago), and filled with floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves crammed with an amazing assortment of books from all nations. Many Portuguese read English with no problem.
Like Italy’s medieval villages, Óbidos had an incredible assortment of unique and funky shops selling one-of-a-kind items, like the “birth year” tins of Sardines we bought at Sardinia Portuguesa.
We ended our visit to Óbidos with a late lunch at a cozy stone steakhouse called Realmente, which stands dreamily on the lower level of town. The tiny restaurant, owned by a very friendly young woman who seemed to do everything, had a kitchen in the basement and a clever dumbwaiter to deliver food to the dining room above.
Óbidos is a must-see if you are driving north from Lisbon to Porto, like stepping back in time but with all of the modern amenities.
The coastal fishing village of Nazaré was another thirty minutes north, and a whole different ballgame.
The town’s name comes from a familiar legend repeated time and time again, dating back to the 12th century, involving a miraculous intervention by the Virgin Mary. According to tradition, a statue of Our Lady of Nazaré was brought from Nazareth in the Holy Land by a monk named Romano, and the Virgin protected him from a deadly fall while he was hunting on a cliff. It’s amazing how that lady gets around Portugal. She’s everywhere!
Historically, Nazaré was a small fishing village. The community was tightly-knit, and fishing was the main livelihood. The Fort of São Miguel Arcanjo, built in the 16th century, overlooks the sea and the famous Nazaré mega-waves. It was built to protect the town from pirate attacks and has become a landmark for tourists, especially those who come to watch the kamikazi surfers.
Nazaré celebrates several historical religious festivals, with the Festa da Senhora da Nazaré being the most important. This event honors the Virgin Mary’s promise of protection and attracts devout visitors every year.
Despite modernization, Nazaré has preserved many of its ancient customs and traditions, including boat-building techniques, fishing methods, and folk dances.
Nazaré is essentially the place where the world comes to watch lunatic surfers rocket across the roaring face of monstrous 80-foot waves; every rider flirting with a watery death. It is the ultimate mashup of a sleepy fishing village and a high-octane “Fast & Furious” surfing movie, with a healthy dose of salt-dried horse mackerel.
Thanks to a massive underwater canyon, Nazaré generates the biggest surfable waves on the planet. It’s the only place where “taking a dip” might actually mean facing a 10-story wall of water. It takes a special kind of crazy.
We saw local women rocking the “seven skirts” look — a traditional outfit designed to keep them warm on the beach while waiting for the fishermen to return. It’s the original coastal grandmother aesthetic, just with more petticoats. They were some hard-looking ladies.
The town is split between the beach level (Praia) and the high-altitude cliff (Sítio).
We took a 100-year-old funicular, which is basically a slow-motion elevator with breathtaking views, ending on a sheer basalt ridge above an ever-churning blue ocean.
They still dry fish on open-air nets right on the sand. It’s very authentic, very photogenic, and very old school Portugal.
After Lisbon and Cascais, Óbidos and Nazaré might as well have been different countries.
Óbidos is a Medieval toy town. It isn’t real. It’s more like a time capsule with good restaurants and clever trinkets.
Nazaré is the real deal, an authentic Portuguese fishing village that got lucky when the surfing world decided it was Mt. Everest. The big waves run from December to March, so we got there just after the surf city shakedown street had been boarded up until the next high season, like a popular winter ski resort in the summer.
The town was fairly dirty and sort of seedy. The people looked tough and content. Everybody was smoking. There was a rough edge to the place — not threatening or sketchy in any way — but the locals seemed indifferent to the rest of the world. The seafood restaurants along the beach were packed with boozing locals, clapping and singing at long tables. The men all needed a shave, and the women were dressed like bag ladies. We definitely weren’t in Lisbon anymore. In truth, it was the first place we visited in Portugal that felt real — rather than staged.
Portugal is just full of surprises!
