Santarém

Santarém stands on a bluff a hundred metres above the Tagus floodplain, which is why it mattered: a Roman town, then a major Muslim city, taken by Afonso Henriques in 1147 by a night assault that the chronicles describe in detail, and afterwards a royal residence and Cortes town. It is now the best concentration of Gothic architecture in Portugal - Graça church with its enormous rose window cut from a single stone and the tomb of Pedro Álvares Cabral, Santa Clara, São João de Alporão and Marvila among others - along with the Seminário church, a full baroque interior. The Portas do Sol garden occupies the old citadel on the bluff edge, with a terrace giving the Tagus, its bends and the flat lezíria beyond. The Ribatejo is bull-breeding and horse country, and the national agricultural fair is held here each June.

What you actually see

• The Gothic churches - Graça, Marvila, São João de Alporão and others in one town.
• The rose window - Graça's, cut from a single piece of stone.
• Portas do Sol - a garden on the citadel bluff with the Tagus laid out below.
• The Ribatejo - bull and horse country, with the June agricultural fair.

When to go

March to June and September to November; June brings the agricultural fair. Half a day. Summer on the Tagus plain is hot.

Honest expectations

Several of the churches are closed or open only at limited hours - check before building a route around them. The town is spread out with steep streets. Santarém is a working provincial city, not a preserved one.

Nearby

The Tagus lezíria and Alpiarça are across the river; Almeirim is south-east.