SABUGAL
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3,000.
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Câmara Municipal,
Praça da República (Tel: 800 262 788 ). -
1st Thu & 3rd
Tue of month.
In 1296, when this small town beside the River Côa was confirmed as Portuguese in
the Treaty of Alcañices, the castle was refortified by the
ever-industrious King Dinis. Its imposing towered walls and unusual five-sided
keep survive from this era, although the castle suffered in peacetime from
villagers raiding it for building stone.
Peopled since prehistoric times, Sabugal still has part of its medieval walls,
reinforced in the 17th century and now ringed by newer houses. In the Praça da
República stands a granite clocktower , reconstructed in the
17th century.
Wrapped in its ring of walls, Sortelha , 20 km (12 miles)
west, is enchanting. It sits on a granite outcrop and the views from the
high keep of its gem of a 13th-century castle are stunning. In front of the
arched castle entrance is a 16th-century pillory with an armillary sphere on
top. In the tiny citadel are a school and stony lanes of granite houses,
some discreetly converted into restaurants.
The local fondness for bullfights is reflected in names of nearby villages
such as Vila do Touro . In a local variation, the capeia , bulls were taunted into charging into a huge fork
of branches.
