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Mosteiro da Serra de Pilar
Watching over Gaia is this 17th-century hilltop monastery, with its striking circular cloister, church with gilded altar and stellar river views. Requisitioned by the future Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War (1807–14), it still belongs to the Portuguese military and can
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Jardim Botânico
A serene place to catch your breath, the lovely university-run botanic garden sits in the shadow of the 16th-century Aqueduto de São Sebastião . Founded by the Marquês de Pombal, the gardens combine formal flowerbeds, meandering paths and elegant fountains. The green-fingered can a
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Igreja de São Francisco
Sitting on Praça Infante Dom Henrique, Igreja de São Francisco looks from the outside to be an austerely Gothic church, but inside it hides one of Portugal’s most dazzling displays of baroque finery. Hardly an inch escapes unsmothered, as otherworldly cherubs and sober monks are dr
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Fernandina Tower
The Fernandina Tower was the result of alterations undertaken in the 14th century to the second Muslim wall. It served as a jail from the end of the 15th century. These days, you can climb the spiral staircase to the top for wonderful views. Note: the lighting is poor and its a ste
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Santa Cruz do Bussaco
Tucked away behind the hotel, this is what remains of a convent where the Duke of Wellington to-be rested after the Battle of Bussaco in 1810. The atmospheric interior has decaying religious paintings, an unusual walkway right around the chapel, some guns from the battle, and the m
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Rua Santa Catarina
Rua Santa Catarina is absurdly stylish and romantic with trim boutiques, striped stone sidewalks and animated crowds. At its southern end it opens out onto the lovely, eclectic Praça da Batalha , framed by Nasoni’s gracefully baroque Igreja de Santo Ildefonso with its twin bell tow
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Museu do Douro
It’s not all about the wine. Sometimes it’s about contemporary canvases, impressionist landscapes, old leather-bound texts, vintage port-wine posters and the remains of an old flat-bottomed port hauler. You’ll find it all in a gorgeous converted riverside warehouse, with a restaura
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Forte de Santa Luzia
This miniature, zig-zag-walled fort, just 1.4km south of the praça, houses a military museum . The Forte de Nossa Senhora da Graça , 3km north of town, with a similar shape, was added in the following century; these days, its in bad shape (abandoned and dilapidated so take care if
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Biblioteca Joanina
The Old Universitys library, a gift from João V in the early 18th century, seems too extravagant and distracting for study with its rosewood, ebony and jacaranda tables, elaborately frescoed ceilings and gilt chinoiserie bookshelves. Its 300,000 ancient books deal with law, philoso
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Museu do Fado
Fado (traditional Portuguese melancholic song) was born in the Alfama. Immerse yourself in its bittersweet symphonies at Museu do Fado. This engaging museum traces fado’s history from its working-class roots to international stardom. The collection takes in discs, recordings, poste
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Museu das Rendas de Bilros
It’s no accident that seafaring fingers, so deft at making nets, should also be good at lace making. Vila do Conde is one of the few places in Portugal with an active school of the art, founded in 1918. Housed in a typical 18th-century town house in the town centre, the school incl
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Fortaleza do Beliche
A kilometre before reaching the lighthouse at Cabo de São Vicente, youll pass the Fortaleza do Beliche, built in 1632 on the site of an older fortress. The interior, once a hotel, is off-limits, but you can go through the walls to the seaward side and descend a pretty pathway down
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Largo de Santa Clara
This delightful cobbled square facing the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Consolação has a whimsical centrepiece – a polka-dotted pelourinho . This pillory was a symbol of municipal power: criminals would once have been chained to the metal hooks at the top. The fancy archway with its o
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Praça da República
This renovated attractive town square with a pelourinho (stone pillory) is the historic heart of the old city. Dominating the square is the 16th-century Igreja de Misericórdia , a hefty church with an immense porch – its crude stonework betrays its origins as a meat market. The Pla
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Serra da Boa Viagem
For those with wheels, this headland, found 4km north of Figueira and carpeted in pines, eucalyptus and acacias, is a fine place for panoramas, picnics, mountain-biking and cool walks. Take the coastal road to Buarcos, turn right at the lighthouse and follow the signs to Boa Viagem
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Museu Arqueológico
This archaeological museum is housed in the enchanting 12th-century Igreja de São João de Alporão. Among the stone carvings, azulejos and rotating exhibits is the elaborate tomb of Dom Duarte de Menezes, who died in 1464 in a battle against the Moors in North Africa. It’s quite gra
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Casa Museu de Amália Rodrigues
A pilgrimage site for fado fans, Casa Museu de Amália Rodrigues is where the Rainha do Fado (Queen of Fado) Amália Rodrigues lived; note graffiti along the street announcing it as Rua Amália. Short tours take in portraits, glittering costumes and crackly recordings of her performan
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Nossa Senhora da Conceição
Situated opposite Loulés castle, and dating from the mid-17th century, the small chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição has a plain facade that nonchalantly hides a heavily decorated mid-18th-century single-naved interior with a magnificent gold altarpiece. During recent excavations,
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Balcões
A 1.5km easy and well-signposted climb out of Ribeiro Frio brings you to one of the most spectacular viewing points on the whole of Madeira, the aptly named Balcões – The Balconies. From here you get a birds eye view of the islands highest peaks, the huge cauldron of rock below the
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Museu de Marinha
The Museu de Marinha is a nautical flashback to the Age of Discovery with its armadas of model ships, cannonballs and shipwreck booty. Dig for buried treasure like Vasco da Gama’s portable wooden altar, 17th-century globes (note Australia’s absence) and the polished private quarter
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