Marvão, Portugal - February 23, 2021

 From the house at night we can see the lights of Marvao on the top of a 960 meter quartzite peak across the expansive valley. Bursting with curiosity, we rode our mountain bikes the 18 km distance to take a closer look. It was a gorgeous ride, but very steep and involved a lot of climbing (and some on foot bike pushing) to get to the top. The reward of visiting the town of Marvao was so worth the effort. Within the many walls are cobbled narrow, tangled, twisting streets. There is a reason almost every street is one way in the village! It is easy to understand why a fortress would be situated in this location as you can see so far in every direction from up there and the Spanish border is only 15 km away. The original castle dates back to the 8th century and was founded by an Islamic knight. For 5 centuries it remained an Islamic stronghold until it was conquered by King Alfonso I during the 1160s. The remains today are largely of a medieval era castle (1300's).

Portagem (the closest town before Marvao)                Antigua Estrada (Old Road) 2 km long

Decorative 8 pointed star paving in the turns. Designed for animal carts, with gullies for rainwater. This road was a challenge to bicycle up due to the slope as well as the very uneven paving, but it sure was beautiful!















On the return trip we passed by this Roman bridge and the town of Ammaia from the 1st century. Due to Covid restrictions, we were unable to visit the museum and part of the dig site which is normally open, but as we cycled by, we could see parts of the columns and even complete walls standing in the fields.






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