"Obidos - A Tourist Delight" a Óbidos Travel Page by Bwana_Brown

Our visit to Obidos was not really long enough to do it justice. We had set out from northern Portugal in the morning, departing 'Praia de Mira' (south of Aveiro) some time around 9 AM. We headed inland as directly as we could so we could reach the A1 divided 4-lane highway near Coimbra. From there, we turned the jets on, stopping only to pay the tolls as we headed south for our next coastal destination at Peniche. Once we reached Leiria (where we had originally planned to spend a night), it was a tricky adjustment to transfer over to the A8, but we made it and continued onward. It just so happened that Obidos is located exactly where we had to exit the A8, so we took advantage to squeeze in a quick 2-hour walking tour of the town.

Although the number of tourists were greater than anything we had experienced for few days, it was still not bad. It was fun checking out the fortifications of the town and enjoying the historic atmosphere of its streets with their whitewashed buildings. The temperature was in the low 20s C (75 F) with a hazy sky, so it was quite pleasant to just wander around at random.

This view was taken from the fortified tower at the south end of the town. It shows the main part of town, encircled by the walls, with the even larger towers of the Castelo Pousada (a former Royal residence of Portugal's Queens) visible at the north end of town.