Tom`s travels: Montemor-o-Velho (05/10/2014)

This time I decided to check out the beautiful castle I had always seen when travelling by train from Coimbra to Figueira, it is one of the best preserved in all of Portugal and also one of the largest, it first belonged to the Moors and was then captured by the christian forces in 848, while the keep and main walls date to the 12th and 13th century; the views from the walls are amazing, being the town surrounded by rice fields and the Mondego river flowing by. So I took and early train and about 40 minutes later I hopped off at Montemor-o-Velho train station. The station itself is just two train tracks with a road beside it, and it is located 4 kilometers south east of the town, so it took me about 40 minutes to reach by foot; i'm guessing there isn't even a bus that passes by. Once I reached the town, from below I could see the immensity of the hilltop castle, so walking from the main square where the Camara Municipal, or Town Hall, was located I took an elevator, yes there was an open air elevator to get to nearly the top of the hill (probably for the many old people living here) and headed for the main gate of the castle. Once inside, through the Porta da Peste, or Plague Gate, so called because as a legend mentions, two chests were buried under the castle one containing gold and the other containing the plague (meaning wealth or misery and death), I walked along the walls until I reached the ruins of the Capela de Santo Antonio and the Clock Tower, I then headed for the highest point of the hill, where the Igreja de Santa Maria da Alcáçova stands, from the 11th century but remodeled in the 16th century with some manueline styled additions. I passed by the ruins of the Palacio das Infantas, or the Palace when the castle was inhabited by kings and queens and didn't serve its military role anymore, and reached the Keep, the highest point of the walls, and from there I could have a beautiful view of the whole castle walls and the fields surrounding the town. At the centre of the castle stood the small tourist info point, where I asked for some info to an old man who wondered if I was Portuguese, I told him I was italian and he was surprised by fluency and gave me a pamphlet about the castle. Taking a few more pics I decided to go out through the southern gate or Porta da Nossa Senhora do Rosario, I descended into town and then walked out in the countryside to admire the castle's western walls. The view was incredible and well worth the detour. It was then time to go and as I had previously decided, I walked the 24km to Coimbra in about 4 hours and half totalling nearly 30km with the train station walk and touring around the castle.