Explore Estremoz on this walking tour through the historic centre of one of the most beautiful cities in Portugal.
This city has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic. Romans, Visigoths and Muslims passed through here. The Christian reconquest arrived in the 13th century when it was annexed to the Kingdom of Portugal. The Council emerged in 1258 when D. Afonso III granted it a charter.
In the city, marble is everywhere, from the pavement made stone by stone, to the stonework of buildings. Or we are not in the so-called white city.
You will be invited to observe and admire the historical and architectural heritage of the city, which holds a number of unique monuments such as the Tower of the 3 Kings, the Tower of Couraça, the Medieval Town Hall, the pillory, the lake of Gadanha, the Convent of San Francisco, or the former Convent of Congregados. As well some buildings decorated with tiles in the Art Nouveau style of the early 20th century.
The castle of Estremoz, dating from the 13th century, was the residence of kings in the 1st Dynasty.
Isabel of Aragon, also known as Isabel the Holy Queen, famous for the Miracle of the Roses, died there. In the alcove where tradition places the queen upon her death was later built the Chapel of the Holy Queen, a jewel of Portuguese baroque.
This castle or Strong War Square of Estremoz was of great importance for the Portuguese defence. Or we weren't 30 minutes away from the border with Spain.
In the 17th century, it was expanded and protected by a bastioned defensive system with a perimeter of five kilometres that surrounded the entire city, most of which still exists today.
Military bodies were quartered here and then left to fight in important battles for national defence. So it happened in the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the 19th century, the “Massacre dos Warehouses” took place here.
Finally, discover the clay work of Estremoz Doll, a tradition that dates back 3 centuries and which since 2017 has been a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.