The story of Castle of Óbidos

This town fell to a trick. On 10 January 1148, after stubborn resistance, the forces of Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques, overcame its defences through a ruse. Before them Lusitanians, Romans and Visigoths had lived here, and Muslims had fortified the settlement in the 8th century.

Later Óbidos stayed loyal to King Sancho II and in 1246 beat off the forces of the future Afonso III, earning the title 'very noble and ever loyal', still on its coat of arms. King Denis gave the town to Queen Isabel as a wedding gift, and it then belonged to Portugal's queens until 1834. Walk the walls: they run for 1,565 metres and in places rise 13 metres high. In 1808 the fortress fired the first artillery shots of the Battle of Roliça, the first defeat of Napoleon's troops.

And since 1948 the old castle has had a new life as a pousada, an inn where guests sleep inside medieval stone.