Marvao: Portugal’s Postcard Hill Town

Even if Marvao did not have one of Portugal’s best castles to explore, it would still be worth visiting to wander the narrow, stone-paved lanes between tiny white-washed houses with carved windows and beautiful wrought-iron balconies.

It’s the castle, though, that command everyone’s attention, even when first viewed as you drive toward the Spanish border from Castelo de Vide. It crowns the walled hilltop town, its ramparts looking almost straight down into Spain. Built to protect that often-fragile border from Spanish attacks, it stands at the highest point of a 3,000-foot escarpment, a commanding position you can best appreciate by climbing to the top and walking along its ramparts.

Kids love it, and even older ones can’t help imagining themselves as soldiers guarding it or as fair damsels waiting to be rescued from its towers. It’s the kind of place that sparks imagination.

Inside the vast castle are other reminders of life in medieval Portugal. Just inside the foregate, steps lead down into a gigantic cistern that stored rainwater for times of draught or siege. Through the inner gate, you can see channels that directed water into it.

The vast central courtyard was designed to create echoes, so a relatively small defending garrison making a lot of noise could sound like a much larger army, hopefully discouraging   attackers as they approached the castle.

Invaders — and you — must enter the walled town through a massive gate and, unless you are staying overnight, you should park outside it. There’s a lot more to see beside the castle, and sunset views from the garden in front of the castle are breathtaking.

Inside a former church, a museum displays finds from local Bronze Age sites, medieval gravestones, local costumes, traditional needlework, and a chapel lined with Portugal’s distinctive blue and white pictorial tiles. While kids may not be museum fans, this one has a good variety of exhibits with good signage. Along the lanes winding through the village, you’ll find a couple of bakeries and several restaurants, as well as places to stay.

In the valley below the walled town, the impressive ruins of the first-century Roman town of Ammaia are emerging from the earth, where they have been buried for centuries. It’s a good place for kids to get an introduction to ancient Rome as they watch archaeologists excavate and uncover the Forum, baths and temples. A four-arched Roman bridge crosses the nearby river into Spain.