Page 208 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Portugal

10 dos Anjos in the square of the RABAÇAL CHEESE
same name (the tourist office
Montemor-o-Velho keeps the key). Its 17th­century The village of Rabaçal,
façade hides an earlier, more
! D3 @ n Castelo de lavish interior, with Manueline a few miles (6 km)
Montemor-o-Velho; west of Penela, is best
239 680 380 and Renaissance influences. known for its cheese of
the same name. This
This attractive and historic 11 regional speciality is
hillside town rises out of fields
EXPERIENCE The Beiras Mondego river. Its castle, ! E3 £ @ n Rua João Luso; milk, which is aged for
made with a mixture
of rice and maize beside the
of sheep’s and goat’s
Lousã
at least 20 days. Some
which served as a primary
defence of the city of Coimbra
villagers still mature
239 990 040
(p196) is mostly 14th century,
the cheese rounds in
The paper factory at Lousã,
but it had previously been a
darkened rooms in
their homes.
on the forested banks of the
Moorish stronghold, and the
keep has fragments of Roman
stonework. The church of
in 1716 and is still working.
Santa Maria de Alcaçova Arouce river, was opened The tortuous road south from
Skilled papermakers imported
within its walls was founded from Italy and Germany by here towards Castanheira de
in 1090. Restored in the 15th the Marquês de Pombal Pêra gives a splendid view
century, its naves and arches brought prosperity, still evident across the valley. A turning
reflect the Manueline style. in the handsome 18th­century east leads up to Alto do
Montemor was the birth­ houses. Most elegant of these Trevim which, at 1,204 m
place of Fernão Mendes Pinto is the Palácio dos Salazares, a (3,950 ft), is the highest
(1510–83), famous for his private home located on Rua point in the Serra de Lousã.
colourful accounts of his Viscon dessa do Espinhal. Also
travels in the east. Another notable is the Misericórdia,
explorer, Diogo de Azambuja with a 1568 Renaissance 12
(died 1518), is buried here. portal, on Rua do Comércio.
Columbus is said to have Deep in a valley, just south Penela
sailed with Azambuja, who of Lousã, is the Castelo de ! E3 @ n Largo do
intrepidly navigated along Arouce. Legend says it was Município; 239 561 132
the West African coast. His built in the 11th century by a
tomb, by the Manueline King Arunce, who took refuge Penela’s thick­set castle was
master Diogo Pires, is in the in the valley when fleeing built in 1087 by Sisinando,
Convento de Nossa Senhora from raiders. To visit the governor of Coimbra, as part
castle, ask at the town hall. of the line of defences of the
Near the castle are the three Mondego valley. Its squat
shrines of the Santuário de towers provide wonderful
Nossa Senhora da Piedade. views over the village and, to
the east, of the wooded Serra
da Lousã. The church within
A bell tower on the the castle walls, São Miguel,
castle walls at dates back to the 16th
Montemor-o-Velho century. Below, in Penela

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