The little spa of Moura (altitude:180m/1,062ft) , some 60km/37mi northeast of Beja on the left bank of the Guadiana, has alkaline mineral springs in its park that are particularly called upon in the treatment of rheumatism. Known by the Romans as Nova Civitas Arruccitana, the town owes its present name (Moura = Moorish girl), and its coat of arms - a dead girl below the castle walls - to a young Moorish maiden called Salúquia. She was the daughter of the town's leading citizen and is supposed to have plunged from the castle battlements after her betrothed and his followers had been ambushed and slain by the Christians on the eve of the wedding. The Christians had then donned the clothing of their ambushed enemies to trick their way past the guards to capture the castle.
Above the town center are the ruins of the Castle, originally Moorish but rebuilt by King Dinis at the end of the 13th C. Within the walls stands the church of Nossa Senhora da Assunçao with the Capela dos Rolins, the last resting place of the conquerors Álvaro and Pedro Rodrigues.
Address: Castelo dos Mourous, Castelo dos Mouros 2710-609 Sintra, P-2710-609 Sintra, Portugal
The Convento de Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Moura is the oldest Carmelite convent in Portugal, founded about 1250. Its elegant cloister dates from the 16th/17th C., and the convent church has an interesting choir fresco.
The old quarter of Mouraria, near the main square, betrays Moura's Moorish past. Many of its low white houses are embellished with azulejos and the characteristic chimneys, and one of them, on the Largo da Mouraria, has been reconstructed in the Eastern style, complete with courtyard.
Also on the Praça de Sacadura Cabral is the entrance to Moura's little spa park, full of flowers and with an inviting cafe and a view from the terrace at the end of the gardens.
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