Marialva

Marialva, in the highlands of the Beira Interior, is one of the historic villages of Portugal: a walled town of stone streets crowned by a castle, with a medieval quarter abandoned inside its walls and the old village living below. Between the keep and the ruins, it keeps the memory of a fortress that once guarded the border with Castile.

The village

Marialva was a stronghold of the defence of the Beira border, fought over in the wars of the Middle Ages and the Restoration. Inside the walls, the medieval village was gradually abandoned, and today its ruins — houses, cisterns and the old Jewish quarter — stand beside the keep; the town of today lives just outside the gate, around the church and the pillory.

What to see

• The castle and its keep, above the old walled town.
• The ruins of the medieval village inside the walls.
• The devesas, the terraced fields along the river valley.
• The stone streets of the village outside the walls.

Visiting

Marialva belongs to the municipality of Mêda, in the district of Guarda, and lies within reach of the motorway and the towns of the Beira Interior. The castle and the abandoned village are public monuments, explored on foot; comfortable shoes and care on the ruins are recommended, and the visit conditions should be confirmed with the official information of the municipality.

Nearby

The historic village of Monsanto and, further south, Sortelha are the other great villages of stone of the Beira border.

Information: cm-meda.pt.

Image credit: Marialva castle, by Hugo Ferreira, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.