Óbidos Things to Do Tips by micas_pt Top 5 Page for this destination

Castle’s walls

The lovely medieval village is built inside the 14th century defensive walls. In some places of the village there are stairs to go up the walls, and once you go up, there is a kind of path that goes along the walls. You may walk on the path around the whole village enjoying a privileged view over its narrow and winding streets and houses from up there or enjoy the views to the “outside” landscape.

Igreja de Santiago

As you come close to the end of the main street, you will see Igreja de Santiago in front of you. It is an imposing church with the belfry on the right. There is a clock just bellow the bell but I think it isn't working as the time it shows is not the time I visited, ... This church was built in 1186 and refurbished in 1755 and 1778. Nowadays it is the Municipal Auditorium.

Casa do Pelourinho

Returning to the main street (Rua Direita) and just opposite the Pelourinho is the Casa do Pelourinho (Pelourinho's House). Nowadays it is used to house temporary exhibitions, such as paintings. When I visited it exhibited paintings by several modern Portuguese artists.

Telheiro

After visiting the church (Igreja da Misericórdia) return to the square where you were previously, in order to return to the main street and visit some other interesting places near the parish church. One of them is called in Portuguese Telheiro. I don't know the exact translation in English but could be shelter. Anyway, this is where formerly stood the municipal market, until the beginning of the 20th century. It is interesting to see that it seems so small compared to nowadays markets.

Igreja da Misericórdia

After visiting the Museum, if you go down the stairs you may visit another beautiful church - Igreja da Misericórdia. Inside the church you will find some nice frescoes on the altarpiece. But what surprised me the most was that a big area of the church (inside) was covered in Portuguese tiles painted in blue and yellow - only the altarpiece and the ceiling aren't covered with the tiles, all other walls are. Queen D. Leonor founded this church in the 16th century. Churches close at 5pm in Obidos. Although this church has no sign, I didn't use camera's flash as there are some important paintings inside.

Old Town Hall / Museum

Standing on the right side of the parish church it's the old town hall, nowadays used as a Museum. The apparently small building dates from the 16th century and used to be the Town Hall as well as jailhouse and municipal court. In 1970 it housed the Municipal Museum and was later refurbished to house Museum Abilio Matos e Silva.

Pelourinho

While in the parish church's square you may admire the pelourinho, opposite to the church's main entrance. Nowadays, the pelourinho stands on top of the fountain but it is said that it used to be in front of the old town hall. In this column built in 1513 can be seen the Royal Coat of Arms and the symbol of Queen D. Leonor.

Igreja Santa Maria

This church is situated in a pleasant square easily seen on your right when strolling in Rua Direita (main street). Igreja Santa Maria is the parish church and was built in the 12th century, having been refurbished in the 16th century. Above the main door can be seen an image of the patron of the village. The church inside is very beautiful, with astonishing frescoes and interesting Baroque style azulejos (Portuguese tiles) dating from 1696. You may also admire some paintings made by Josefa d'Obidos (Portuguese artist) in 1661.Inside the church you can't use the camera's flash. Churches close at 5pm in Obidos.

Rua Direita

This lovely village has a main street called Rua Direita. From this main street you will be able to access most must see places, apart from admiring the lovely houses and do some shopping, as there are loads of art crafts shops on this street. Most cafes and bars are also located on this street. This is a pedestrian street although sometimes there are some cars passing by, so be careful. I assume they must belong to inhabitants or belong to commerce.

Column

As soon as you cross the Village Door and leave the Oratory behind, you will face a very small square with a column. This column was built in 1932 as homage to a great Portuguese poet - Luís de Camões, who celebrated the Portuguese discoveries on his poems. On this tiny square, the stone-made walls have a kind of benches from which you may overlook the narrow streets and rooftops behind.