Portugal’s hidden gems: places off the beaten path to visit on a holiday, from island forts to magical mountain villages
- A couple on their first trip to Portugal aim to find smaller cities, mountain villages and activities that don’t mean standing in long lines with other tourists
- They visit a village where houses are built in massive boulders and an island with dreamy sunset views, swim under a waterfall, and discover some great cheese
As we steered our rented hatchback up the narrow gravel road behind the walled city of Óbidos, we had the sinking feeling that Google Maps’ idea of the best route to the popular Portuguese tourist destination wasn’t the standard way there, and certainly not the most direct.
The dusty path was wending past apple, pear and sour cherry orchards, which then transformed into vineyards, then back again to orchards as we climbed.
The gap-toothed ramparts loomed in the distance to our right and ahead, a stereotype of a castle that a child would draw: vertical rectangle, horizontal line, vertical rectangle, horizontal line.
A dog barked from somewhere down the hillside, and as we reached the walls of the old city, our car wheels started to spin out.
“Well, you wanted to get off the beaten path,” my husband said.
We parked the car on the side of the road, observed only by an orange cat, and entered Óbidos literally through the back door. Were we doing something wrong? Would our car get towed? The answer was no, and no.
