HOME TOUR

On a Thursday in early June we left Costa Nova around 7:30 am to day trip to some sights I didn’t want to miss–Monsanto and Òbidos. I stumbled upon pictures of Monsanto early on in the trip planning process and although far, around a 3 hour drive from Costa Nova, it is an exceedingly beautiful drive up into the mountains and through olive orchards and tiny towns. I knew this picturesque hilltop town was going to be a must-see. And boy was it ever. The kids are in their audiobook season and were totally willing to road trip as we were in the middle of the audiobook, The Last Dragon on Mars. The town was relatively empty, stunningly beautiful, we had a great lunch here and all enjoyed wandering the cobbled lanes. Even Cade whose legs were hurting. It didn’t hurt there were pictures of dragons everywhere!

This truly was a full day of driving (7+ hours) with the longest portion being Costa Nova –> Monsanto at 3 hours. Don’t let that dissuade you, each driving chunk is manageable, find a good audiobook, leave early (we wish we had left even earlier than 7:30) and you’ll still have a couple of hours at each location. We ate lunch in Monsanto and dinner in Òbidos with just a quick stop in Nazaré to see the town with the historic big wave surfing (since we were going right through it on the way back to Costa Nova).

MONSANTO

This picturesque hilltop town is famous for its boulders with them dotted through the town, full houses built entirely around these giant rocks. Lanes curve around them, and they are certainly worth the drive. I’ve never seen a town like it. And sitting like a cherry on top are the ruins of a medieval Knights Templar castle (in addition to an unsightly cell phone tower that had us scratching our heads). Why on earth would the Portuguese allow this thing? It certainly is the highest mountain around but the view is spectacular, logistically it makes sense but aesthetically, total mistake.

HIKING UP TO THE KNIGHT’S TEMPLAR RUINS

A relatively short but straight uphill climb is the ruins of the old Knight’s Templar Fortress. With 360 degree awe-inspiring views, this is worth the trek. There were relatively few people around and the walls were impressive. There’s a small chapel inside the fortress that you can peek in but not actually go in. There is also very little shade so bring plenty of water and wear sunscreen + hats.

With stone stairs jutting out the castle wall and not a single “no climbing” sign in site, we climbed on top to enjoy the view. And it was honestly one of the most breathtaking views I’ve experienced.  You could see so far and the clouds were those wispy kind of clouds that look like they’re just up their meandering too.

MEANDERING BACK LANES

We wandered a bit after the castle exploration and settled on lunch inside the cave restaurant of Taverna Lusitana. It was delicious and we were hot and tired so we ate inside. My favorite part of any cobblestoned village is just walking, wandering and going slow. Smelling flowers and enjoying the moment. There were some charming back lanes in this town.

STRIPE SKIRT | FAVORITE TANK TOP | NECKLACE | HAT | WOVEN SLIDES SIMILAR

We stopped at the parking lot at the bottom of the hill to use the bathroom before heading to Òbidos, a two hour-ish drive. There an old gentleman came to the window and asked for 3 euros for a bag of lemons and oranges. I drove most of the way to Òbidos with those delicious citrus fruits in my lap just to smell them the whole way. I can’t tell you the last time I had an unwaxed, straight-from-the-tree citrus.

ÒBIDOS

This is arguably one of the more touristed towns in Portugal but if you arrive towards the end of the day, the day trippers from Lisbon leave on their big tour buses and you’ve got it gloriously all to yourself. We arrived around 4:30p which seems late but all the shops stay open late, remember the sun is up until almost 10pm in June and we had time to do everything we wanted before driving the 1:45 back to Costa Nova.

THE TOWN OF QUEENS

There’s no end to the romantic corners in this charming town, lined with yellow and blue paint everywhere you look. It’s been nicknamed the “town of Queens” because the whole town has traditionally been a wedding gift for Portuguese queens. Can you imagine getting an entire town as a gift? King Afonso Henriques conquered Óbidos in 1148 from the Moors but settlement here dates all the way back to roman times. The entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site with the unique distinction of being a “city of Literature” for its 14 charming bookstores. We stopped in one and bought a cookbook (a favorite souvenir of mine) and snacks for the kids. Only in Europe do they sell brown paper cones filled with local berries. Each kiddo (and parent) wanted one and we continued our meandering with our delicious treat. 

This picture Matt captured of Aubrey peeking around the corner at me could be one of my favorites ever! Well done husband.

HIKING THE CASTLE WALL

This is not for the faint of heart or those with little kids who may wander away. There is a straight 20+ ft drop off the edge and no rail the entire way around the city. It scared the heck out of me and I was one edge until every last kid was down on solid ground. But the view is spectacular at sunset, you can peek into backyards and it was overall worth the scare. It doesn’t cost anything and we accessed the wall right at the arched entry to the town from the parking lot.

I hope you enjoyed our day trip out from Costa Nova, Portugal to the charming hilltop town of Monsanto and the lovely medieval village of Òbidos. You can easily go from the beach to charming hillside towns on this Northern Portugal itinerary.