Guimaraes - Castelo

Above the town rears the gray bulk of the 10th C. castle, with its high, slender battlements, one of the most complete and best preserved medieval strongholds in Portugal. As the birthplace on June 24, 1110 of the first Portuguese king, Afonso Henriques, it is also something of a national shrine. In the middle of the oval courtyard rises the tall and massive keep, the Torre de Menagem, which could hold out on its own if need be. This is believed to have housed in the 11th C. a Benedictine convent founded by the Galician Countess Mumadona. The curtain walls of the castle, with their eight towers, afford magnificent views, including those of the battlefield of Mamede.