Loures

The Tagus estuary narrows into fields as it passes Loures, the belt of countryside immediately north of Lisbon. The town gave its name to a municipality that runs from the capital’s fringe up to quiet wine country, and its people were long known as saloios — the country folk of the Lisbon outskirts — a word the town still wears with pride on a monument at its heart.

Palaces and a medieval tower

The parish church of Loures crowns the old town, but the municipality’s grandest building stands a little outside it: the Palácio do Correio-Mor, an 18th-century mansion built for Luís Gomes da Matta, postmaster-general of the kingdom, with a design attributed to the Italian architect António Canevari. Its state rooms hold notable tilework and mythological paintings, and boxwood gardens run out behind the noble gate. To the east, the Castelo de Pirescoxe preserves medieval traces, including ogival doorways and a conical chimney.

The wine country of Bucelas

In the municipality’s northern hills lies Bucelas, whose white wines have been made within a demarcated region since 1911. The village keeps the Museu do Vinho e da Vinha, which walks visitors through the phases of vineyard work, and the slopes are still picked each autumn. Riders reach them the traditional way, on horseback along the vineyard trails that lead towards the Vila Franca de Xira pastures of the Tagus floodplain. The capital’s own story is gathered nearby at the Museu de Lisboa.

What to see

• The Palácio do Correio-Mor and its boxwood gardens
• The Castelo de Pirescoxe
• The Museu do Vinho e da Vinha at Bucelas
• The Monumento aos Saloios in the town

Practical information

Loures lies immediately north of Lisbon, along the northern bank of the Tagus estuary, and is served by the capital’s road and rail network. The municipality stretches from urban parishes in the south to wine country in the north, so a car makes the distances easy. Check the official websites before setting out.

Image credit: Monumento aos Saloios – Loures – Portugal by Vitor Oliveira — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.