We took an all day bus tour through the countryside outside of Lisbon. First stop was a city called Obidos. Obidos in Latin means, “fortified walls” which describes this city exactly. Obidos was completely surrounded by fortified walls just like something out of medieval times. After being taken over from the Moors, the city was established in 1148 by the first king of Portugal. In 1210, the town of Obidos was given as a wedding present from King Alfonso II to his queen. This set a precedence for the royal marriages to come and Obidos became known as “Queen’s Village”.
The architecture of the town is pretty plain and simple. Whitewashed walls, one color stripe accent, tile roofs, and cobblestone streets are the basic elements. The town is very quaint and has become a favorite tourist attraction among the area.
Because of its favorable climate, many vine plants like these are a common sight all throughout Portugal. They just grow up the sides of old buildings. Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous and how neat to have this growing outside your home! Obidos is known for making a cherry liquer called ginjinha (jing jing a) and it is served in chocolate cups here! Very delicious! Well that is basically all I have to SAY about Obidos, we unfortunately didn’t get much time here, only about 45 minutes to shop, drink the ginjinha, and take photos! So, here is what I captured: ENJOY!!
Okay, I lied. I have one more thing to say about Obidos! The castle remained a residence up until around the 16th century. Today the castle has been converted to a hotel! How cool is that!? I wish we would have had time to go inside and see what it looks like!
Beautiful photos!