This legend tells the story of a Christian knight, Gonçalo Hermigues, who kidnapped a Moorish princess named Fatima on St John’s Day in 1158. The knight took her to a small village in Portugal and she fell in love with him and converted to Christianity, taking the name Oureana. As a reward for her conversion,…
This legend tells the story of a Christian knight, Gonçalo Hermigues, who kidnapped a Moorish princess named Fatima on St John’s Day in 1158. The knight took her to a small village in Portugal and she fell in love with him and converted to Christianity, taking the name Oureana. As a reward for her conversion, the princess was given the town which she called Ourém, derived from her own name. This is likely the origin of the parish of Fátima of Ourém. Nice legend, but we are here because we spotted hill with castle on top. After short detour we left or car at the cemetery near the top and short walked to the castle walls.
Cemitério da Vila de Ourém
Views of the city of Ourém with its 12,000 inhabitants (left) Aire, the mountain we climbed in the morning (right)
It’s very hard to say which point is a natural peak; probably none of the visible ones, because there are man-made structures everywhere. Anyway, we just had a nice morning view of the surrounding villages, valleys and the Aire peak, which we had driven to an hour earlier. We continue on to the originally planned Alvaiázere
