Region · Portugal · 6 tours
Portugal's old towns are small enough to read on foot, and each kept a different kind of history. Alfama, the Lisbon quarter named from the Arabic for hot springs, came through the 1755 earthquake mostly standing. Porto grew as two towns, the bishop's on the hill and the river's at the water. Coimbra was the capital from 1131 and has kept its university in the old royal palace on the hill since 1537.
The smaller towns are about the people who used them. Évora used its Roman temple as a butcher's shop for about five hundred years and built houses into its aqueduct. Óbidos was a wedding present, granted in 1281 to Isabel of Aragon, the bride of King Dinis, and held by Portugal's queens for centuries. In Sintra the tour stays in the town that housed, fed and baked for the visitors who came up to the palaces.
Each tour takes about 80 to 140 minutes over 9 to 11 stops. Stop 1 of every tour is free to hear before you buy.
Lisbon, Portugal
An audio walk through Alfama, the Lisbon quarter named for its hot springs, from the saint's birthplace over the old wall and down the lanes to the fountains by the river.
11 stops · 2.9 km (1.8 mi) · about 140 min
Porto, Portugal
An audio walk through Porto's Ribeira, from the tiled hall of São Bento up to the bishop's cathedral, down the old wall to the Douro, and back up the goldsmiths' street.
11 stops · 2.2 km (1.4 mi) · about 130 min
Lisbon, Portugal
An audio walk through Sintra, from the railway station past the palace of the two chimneys and the bakers' lane to the field at Seteais the town kept open.
9 stops · 2 km (1.2 mi) · about 100 min
Alentejo, Portugal
An audio walk inside Évora's walls, from the Giraldo square past the Chapel of Bones and the Roman temple to the aqueduct people built their houses into.
9 stops · 2.5 km (1.6 mi) · about 100 min
Centro, Portugal
An audio walk through Coimbra, from the first king's tomb up to the university on the hill and down past two cathedrals to the river.
11 stops · 3.1 km (1.9 mi) · about 110 min
Oeste, Portugal
An audio walk through Óbidos, from a queen's aqueduct through the town gate and up the main street to the castle, ending at a painter's grave.
10 stops · 1.4 km (0.9 mi) · about 80 min