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Óbidos |
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ÓBIDOS is a small town of whitewashed houses draped in bougainvillea
and encircled by lofty medieval walls. "The Wedding Town" was the
traditional bridal gift of the kings of Portugal to their queens, a
custom begun in 1282 by Dom Dinis. The town - a couple of hours from
Lisbon by train - can hardly have changed in appearance since then: its
cobbled streets and steep staircases wind up to the ramparts, from where
you can gaze across a fable-like countryside of windmills and vineyards.
The parish church, Igreja de Santa Maria , in the central Praça, was
chosen for the wedding of the ten-year-old child-king Afonso V and his
eight-year-old cousin, Isabel, in 1444. It dates mainly from the
Renaissance, though the interior is lined with seventeenth-century blue
azulejos , or painted tiles, in a homely manner typical of Portuguese
churches. The retable in a side chapel on the right-hand side was
painted by Josefa de Óbidos, one of the finest Portuguese painters - and
one of the few women artists afforded any reputation by art historians.
One corner of the triangular fortifications is occupied by a massively
towered Castle built by Dom Dinis and now converted into a pousada (tel
262 959 105; £40/$64/¬72 and over).
Other hotels in Óbidos also tend to be expensive. Your cheapest option
is to consult the list of private houses offering rooms which is posted
in the tourist office , on Rua Direita (Mon-Fri 9.30am-7pm, Sat & Sun
9.30am-1pm & 2-7pm; tel 262 959 231); there are comfortable rooms at Rua
Direita 40 (tel 262 959 188; £10-15/$16-24/¬18-27). If you do feel like
splashing out try the Estalagem Do Convento , Rua Dom Joao de Ornelas (tel
262 959 217; £20-25/$32-40/¬36-45), housed in an early 19th-century
convent, or the Casa d'Óbidos (tel 258 835 065; £25-30/$40-48/¬45-54),
about 1km south of the town walls -built in 1889 it has beautiful
gardens and an air of faded grandeur. It's worth staying around since,
as is so often the case, the town reverts to its own life after the
daytime tourists disperse. One of the better budget places to eat is the
Café 1 de Dezembro , next to the church of São Pedro.
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