Castelo de Pombal

Above the town of Pombal, halfway between Coimbra and Leiria, the castle keeps the line of the Templars: a fortress raised in the mid-twelfth century by Gualdim Pais, the master who built Almourol and Tomar, guarding the young kingdom’s southern frontier.

The Templar line

The hill had been settled long before the knights arrived — a castro, then a Muslim fortification — and the Templars made it one of the anchors of their chain of castles along the Tagus frontier. Gualdim Pais granted the town its charter and raised the walls and keep; when the Order of Christ succeeded the Templars, the castle kept its role in the defence of the Pinhal country.

Walls, keep and the marquês

The walls run around the hilltop with towers and the keep, and the views reach over the pine forests that give the region its name. The town below remembers its most famous son: Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquês de Pombal, the reforming minister who rebuilt Lisbon after 1755, born in these parts and buried nearby — the castle’s hill carries his memory as much as the Templars’.

What to see

• The keep and walls of the Templar fortress
• The view over the Pinhal country
• The memory of Gualdim Pais and the Templar line
• The town’s Marquês de Pombal landmarks
• The roads between Coimbra and Leiria

Practical information

The castle stands on the hill above the town of Pombal, in central Portugal, close to the A1 motorway between Lisbon and Porto. The climb is short but steep; access to the interior is limited at times — check official information before visiting.

Image credit: Castelo de Pombal by Halley Oliveira — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.