Castelo de Noudar

Among the silent olive groves of the Barrancos borderland, on a hill between two streams, stands a castle with no town: Noudar, founded in 1308 by the Order of Avis for King Dinis, sold to a private owner in the 19th century, abandoned for a hundred years, and now one of the most atmospheric ruins of the Portuguese frontier.

The castle of the lost village

For four centuries Noudar was a fortified village watching the raia — the old frontier — across the Ardila river; its walls changed hands in wars with Castile, and its parish church of Nossa Senhora do Desterro still stands roofless inside the enclosure, beside the ruins of houses, the cistern and the strange canhas, subterranean passages that led from the castle to the streams below. When the village died in the 19th century its stones were sold; since the 1990s the castle and the rolling estate around it — now the Parque de Natureza de Noudar — have been slowly recovered, with guided walks, birdwatching and, in season, the best chance in Portugal of spotting a black vulture above the holm oaks. The towns of Mértola e Serpa lie an hour away along the Guadiana roads.

What to see

• The walls, the keep and the vanished village
• The church of Nossa Senhora do Desterro
• The views over the Ardila valley to Spain
• The nature park and its wildlife
• The town of Barrancos, famous for its ham

Practical information

Noudar lies about 9 kilometres from Barrancos, at the south-eastern corner of Portugal, roughly two and a half hours from Lisbon or an hour and a half from Évora. The last stretch is a country road; the castle is free to visit by day. Take water and sun cover — there is nothing there but the walls and the plain.

Image credit: Castelo de Noudar by Rosino — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.