The 12 historical 'aldeias' of Portugal, a trip to the most traditional interior of the country

In the unknown region of Beiras, next to the Raya de Portugal, the 12 historic

invite you to get lost among slate houses hidden in nature, climb buildings crowned by rocks to enjoy panoramic views and marvel at their ancestral traditions and their military fortresses.

They are a few kilometers from the border with Spain, but they are a remote and charming trip to Portugal's past.

The Historic Villages are 12 inland villages that, one by one, could go unnoticed, but together in an association they support each other to promote themselves, restore their heritage and become an attractive destination for travelers who want to get closer to this part of the Portuguese heritage. .

Of different dimensions, these towns once played a crucial role in the defense of Portugal, hence their impressive fortifications and castles.

The goal of the program is to preserve that heritage.

For those who have time, there is also a great hiking route (the GR 22) that connects them.

More information in Lonely Planet's new Explore Portugal guide and at www.lonelyplanet.es

Monsanto: the most Portuguese town

Like an island in the sky, this village stands out against the plains that surround it.

A simple walk through its cobbled streets and flanked by stone houses is already a good reason to visit it.

Rocks and buildings merge in the middle of a landscape of fields and cork oaks, only crossed by the paths of shepherds.

Aerial view of the Portuguese town of Monsanto. Cavan Images (Getty Images)

It is a quiet place, with narrow streets, with towers, churches and houses decorated with colorful pots, leading to the Templar castle.

This formidable fortress seems to literally sprout from the rock, swept by the wind and populated by lizards and wild flowers.

Its views reach as far as Spain to the east and the Barragem da Idanha dam to the southwest.

During sunset one is not surprised that Monsanto is considered “the most Portuguese town in Portugal”.

In the panoramic view of the village of Piódão, located in the Sierra de Açor, the white silhouette of its church stands out. Zed Jameson (Getty Images)

Piódão, refuge for fugitives

From this remote village you can see rural Portugal in all its splendor.

In reality, it is nothing more than a tiny traditional village perched on a terraced valley, in a beautiful and isolated mountain range.

Nestled in the lush green landscape of the Sierra de Açor, this slate town is more famous as a refuge for fugitives than for its role in the country's history.

Its steep, narrow streets are a delight to wander around, but it's even more impressive when viewed from afar (especially lit up at night), with the whitewashed church with blue accents contrasting with the stone buildings and surrounding nature.

There are walking paths around, a stark white church with cylindrical buttresses that stands out like a beacon above the surrounding houses, and even a small museum,

View of the Sortelha castle, in the Portuguese region of Beira. SANTIAGO URQUIJO (Getty Images)

Sortelha, guarding the border

From the top of a rock promontory, Sortelha shows off its great history.

It is the oldest of the row of fortresses that guard the eastern border of Guarda and Covilhã, in that diffuse crossroads through which it seems that no one has ever passed but that is full of common history.

Its castle-fortress has stood since the 13th century on the edge of a deep ravine and immense walls enclose an extraordinary and charming village: alleys with granite houses, Gothic doors, medieval tombs, a Renaissance church and a Manueline pillory.

All this tells the story of one of the oldest Portuguese towns.

And all in the middle of a landscape dotted with imposing granite rocks, such as the Head of the Old Woman, a huge rock with an uncanny resemblance to a witch with a pronounced chin.

If you visit the last weekend of September, you can enjoy a medieval fair and even join in the celebration by renting period clothing and paying with old coins.

Panoramic view of the geometric fortress of the town of Almeida, in an image made with a drone. Enrique Díaz / 7cero (Getty Images)

Almeida, a fortified star

Since Roman times, Almeida has been there, next to the Côa River.

Ever since Portugal gained definitive independence from Spain in the mid-17th century, these border regions have been on constant alert.

Almeida, together with Elvas and Valença do Minho, became important bastions against Hispanic incursions.

The sprawling Almeida fortress, the least famous but perhaps the most attractive of the three, was built at this time, in the shape of a star and on the foundations of its medieval predecessor, about 15 kilometers from the Spanish border.

Since 1927, when he lost his military duties, the town fell into darkness.

Today, the old fortified town, declared a national monument and recently restored for tourism, is a place of special charm: it exudes the eerie calm of a museum,

Stately homes in the town of Belmonte, birthplace of the discoverer Pedro Álvares Cabral. Celli07 (Getty Images)

Belmonte, a story of discoverers, of Jews and 'marranos'

The Belmonte synagogue reveals its Jewish history.

But this is also the town of Pedro Álvares Cabral, one of the most illustrious navigators in Portugal, the one who officially discovered Brazil in 1500. And the inhabitants of this town boast of it, dating back to the Lusitanians and the Romans, but which grew up on all in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Belmonte has an important Sephardic Jewish community that arrived from Spain after the expulsion of the Catholic Monarchs.

Some ended up being expelled again by the Portuguese king, but others were apparently reconverted, because they continued to profess their faith, and they are known as

.

As in many other towns in the area, the most remarkable thing is the castle, which here is completed with a Jewish Museum, with another of the Discoveries and a third dedicated to oil.

There is a synagogue and churches, stone houses with a stately appearance, without forgetting that one of the Ways to Santiago passes through here.

Aerial view of the historic village of Castelo Novo.Alamy

Castelo Novo, the town of the two towers

With an imposing location in the heart of the Sierra de Garduña, in the middle of a natural amphitheater of green and gray tones, is Castelo Novo, today converted into a lonely village of traditional granite houses, Templar fortifications, castles and churches.

It is not difficult to find it wrapped in clouds, which give it a ghostly appearance.

It belonged to the Templars and some of that remains in the remains of their fortress.

Strolling through its Largo da Bica, we will find medieval buildings such as the Paços do Conselho, a baroque fountain and everything with the figure of the other tower of the town, that of the church, where a clock indicates the hours to its scarce population.

The ruined church in the Portuguese village of Castelo Mendo. Lucas FotoArt (Getty Images)

Castelo Mendo, double walled

Another medieval citadel wrapped in strong walls.

This old town is made up of two well-differentiated cones: an old city, the original, around a castle, the ruins of the church and some medieval houses, all surrounded by a 12th-century wall, and the Arrabal de San Pedro , outside the walls, but at the same time protected by another Gothic wall, later, which was badly damaged by the earthquake of 1755. So there are two towns, with two walls, one inside the other, which was also famous for its fair, a market that was one of the oldest medieval fairs in Portugal.

Today Castelo Mendo is a well-kept and rehabilitated village, very small and where it is a pleasure to walk on stone paths and between well-kept houses in which barely 80 people live.

In a silence only broken by some passing tourist.

View of Idanha-a-Velha and, in the background, Monsanto's village on top of the mountain. Luis Pedro Duarte da Fonseca (Getty Images)

Idanha-a-Velha, asleep in time

In a remote valley of farms and olive groves, this small traditional village just 10 kilometers from Monsanto tells a great story.

It was founded in the 1st century BC and received the title of

Igaeditanorum between the years 69 and 96 of our era.

The Roman walls still define the town, which reached its maximum splendor with the Visigoths (6th century), who came to build a cathedral and made it the capital of the region.

Then came the Arabs, and then the Templars in the twelfth century... and so on until a plague in the fifteenth practically wiped out the entire population.

The misfortune of its inhabitants was the fortune of the town, since it remained almost intact.

Today only a few shepherds and farmers occupy the formerly Roman, Visigothic and medieval ruins.

A man enjoys the view from the top of the castle of Linhares da Beira.Alamy

Linhares da Beira, Jews, pilgrims and a unique castle

This 12th century village is best seen from the air.

In fact, it is a good place for those who practice paragliding.

Below is the village, which is the fruit of an interesting history.

The first impulse was in the twelfth century when it received its first charter, granted by Alfonso Enríquez.

But, above all, during the reign of the famous King Don Dinis, when his imposing castle was built, which is his symbol.

Today it is a town-museum that takes us through history while the breeze from the Mondego valley softens the visit.

The streets and stone houses reveal some interesting inscriptions that remind us that there was an important Jewish quarter here, doors decorated in the Manueline style of the 16th century, and even an old hospital and hostel for medieval pilgrims.

The historic town of Marialva sits on a rocky area;

rocks that were used as pavements for some of its streets. Enrique Diaz (Getty Images)

Marialva, magical experiences in the shadow of the castle

A few minutes from the city of Mêda, Marialva takes on an almost mystical appearance shrouded in clouds.

This town is like a stage that takes us to the deepest roots of the country's history.

On top, as always in these historic villages, a citadel, on whose ruined walls one imagines what it was like in other times.

As always, it was also populated by Lusitanian peoples, then by Romans, followed by the Arabs, to end up being conquered by King Ferdinand in 1063. It was populated and repopulated several times and hence the curious remains that can be found, such as the frescoes medieval of its churches and chapels, or its stately homes along with other typical rural Beiras.

Today it is made up of three different nuclei: the citadel of the Villa, inside the castle, now deserted;

the suburb,

The castle of the Portuguese town of Trancoso, ordered to be built by King Don Dinis.Alamy

Trancoso, the castle of King Don Dinis

At the top of a hill, this is one of the largest villages on this route due to the Portuguese tradition, very lively during the weekly market on Fridays (you must try the grilled sardines).

The labyrinth of cobbled streets within the impressive 13th-century walls built by King Dionisio I makes tranquil Trancoso a charming retreat from the modern world.

It was this king who gave prominence to this frontier fortress, but the people's favorite son is Bandarra, a shoemaker from the end of the 16th century who could tell the future and who upset the authorities by predicting the end of the Portuguese monarchy.

Shortly after Bandarra's death, King Sebastián died, without issue, at the Battle of Alcazarquivir in 1578, and Portugal fell under Spanish rule.

Although medieval dominates, its castle also preserves an original Moorish tower intact, and Visigothic tombs have been discovered on the outer face of the walls.

The church of Nossa Senhora do Rocamador, and its clock tower, in Castelo Rodrigoribeiroantonio (Getty Images)

Castelo Rodrigo, with border charm

This charming town, not far from the border with our natural park of Arribes del Duero, stands on a mound.

From there you can see a landscape that goes from the Côa river to the Águeda river, and from the mountains of Francia and Béjar to the peaks that border the Duero.

It is considered one of the seven wonders of Portugal and due to its location near the border with Spain, it has had a hectic history, common in many places to the rest of the historic villages in the area: Lusitanians, Romans, Arabs, Christians, Don Denis, the poet and king of Portugal... and a constant movement of people and political changes between the two countries.

Of all this there are some fabulous walls, the remains of a castle and a medieval urban layout carved in stone.

And also, as in the rest of the historic villages,

the fifteenth-century pillory is one of its symbols: a granite column that represented the administrative and judicial autonomy of the medieval council and that today presides over most of these enclaves.

But the two most original landmarks of Castelo Rodrigo are perhaps a 13th-century cistern, which was part of the old synagogue, and the Cristóbal de Moura palace, on the remains of the citadel and today in ruins.

And very curious is also the very small church of Rocamador, where the bells are so low that they can almost be rung from the street.

and the palace of Cristóbal de Moura, on the remains of the citadel and today in ruins.

And very curious is also the very small church of Rocamador, where the bells are so low that they can almost be rung from the street.

and the palace of Cristóbal de Moura, on the remains of the citadel and today in ruins.

And very curious is also the very small church of Rocamador, where the bells are so low that they can almost be rung from the street.

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