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A?bidos
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A?BIDOS
is a small town of whitewashed houses draped in bougainvillea and encircled by lofty medieval walls. "The Wedding Town" was the traditional bridal gift of the kings of Portugal to their queens, a custom begun in 1282 by Dom Dinis. The town - a couple of hours from Lisbon by train - can hardly have changed in appearance since then: its cobbled streets and steep staircases wind up to the ramparts, from where you can gaze across a fable-like countryside of windmills and vineyards. The parish church,
Igreja de Santa Maria
, in the central PraA§a, was chosen for the wedding of the ten-year-old child-king Afonso V and his eight-year-old cousin, Isabel, in 1444. It dates mainly from the Renaissance, though the interior is lined with seventeenth-century blue
azulejos
, or painted tiles, in a homely manner typical of Portuguese churches. The retable in a side chapel on the right-hand side was painted by Josefa de A?bidos, one of the finest Portuguese painters - and one of the few women artists afforded any reputation by art historians. One corner of the triangular fortifications is occupied by a massively towered
Castle
built by Dom Dinis and now converted into a
pousada
(tel 262 959 105; A?40/$64/a?¬72 and over).
Other
hotels
in A?bidos also tend to be expensive. Your cheapest option is to consult the list of private houses offering
rooms
which is posted in the
tourist office
, on Rua Direita (Mon-Fri 9.30am-7pm, Sat & Sun 9.30am-1pm & 2-7pm; tel 262 959 231); there are comfortable rooms at Rua Direita 40 (tel 262 959 188; A?10-15/$16-24/a?¬18-27). If you do feel like splashing out try the
Estalagem Do Convento
, Rua Dom Joao de Ornelas (tel 262 959 217; A?20-25/$32-40/a?¬36-45), housed in an early 19th-century convent, or the
Casa d'A?bidos
(tel 258 835 065; A?25-30/$40-48/a?¬45-54), about 1km south of the town walls -built in 1889 it has beautiful gardens and an air of faded grandeur. It's worth staying around since, as is so often the case, the town reverts to its own life after the daytime tourists disperse. One of the better budget places to
eat
is the
CafA© 1 de Dezembro
, next to the church of SA?o Pedro. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Portugal,
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