Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
BUS
Rodotejo
(
www.rodotejo.pt
)
and
Rede Expressos
(
www.rede-expressos.pt
)
leave from the stop in Largo 14
de Agosto, behind the police station, very near the abbey and
turismo
. Express services
go to major cities, including Lisbon (€11.50, two hours) four to five times daily - buy
tickets online or at cafe Frazão behind the church nearby. For closer destinations such as
Alcobaça, Fátima, Leiria, Nazaré and Tomar, you can pay on the bus.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Leiria
POP 55,000
Leiria is an agreeable mixture of medieval and modern, a lively university town built at
the foot of a promontory fortified since Moorish times. The town's dramatically sited
castle is a commanding presence above the narrow streets and red-tiled roofs of the histor-
ic centre, built along the lazy curves of the Rio Lis.
Dom Afonso III convened a
cortes
(Portugal's early parliament) here in 1254; Dom
Dinis established his main residence in the castle in the 14th century; and in 1411 the
town's sizeable Jewish community built Portugal's first paper mill. Modern-day Leiria has
a pleasant, low-key urban buzz and makes a convenient base for visiting nearby sights, in-
cluding Alcobaça, Batalha, Fátima and the Pinhal de Leiria - all easily accessible by bus.
