The Beiras - Portugal - page 651

quet wood floors through a graceful faux-Manueline window studded with rosettes and
overlapping arches.
Information
Turismo ( 231 939 133; [e-mail]; Rua Emídio Navarro 136, Luso; 9am-12.30pm
& 2-5.30pm Oct-May, 9.30am-1pm & 2.30-6pm Jun-Sep) Has accommodation information, town and
forest maps, internet access, and is helpful.
Getting There & Away
BUS
Buses (handier than the train) run four to five times each weekday and twice daily on
Saturdays from Coimbra's main bus station to Luso (€3.55, 40 minutes) and the Palace
Hotel do Buçaco (€3.75, 50 minutes).
CAR
If driving from Coimbra, ignore your GPS and make sure to take the lovely foresty N235,
which comes off the IP3: you'll save a toll, too.
TRAIN
Trains run three times daily from Coimbra B station to Luso/Buçaco station (€3.60, 25
minutes), but the inconvenient schedule makes a same-day round-trip nearly impossible.
From Luso/Buçaco station it's a 15-minute walk to central Luso , plus another half-hour
uphill through the forest to the Palace Hotel.
Montemor-o-Velho
Perched high atop a rugged hill 25km west of Coimbra, glowering Castelo do Montemor -o-
Velho ( 10am-6.30pm, to 5.30pm Oct-Mar) dominates the surrounding marshland. Wheth-
er seen from a distance or from atop the castle walls themselves, it's easy to imagine this
site as an early Reconquista bastion. Fernando I of Castilla y León recaptured Montemor-
o-Velho from the Moors in 1064, and in less than a century his great-grandson Afonso
Henrique claimed it as part of his new Kingdom of Portugal. Over the intervening centur-
ies the castle was rebuilt and expanded several times, with most of the current structure
dating from the 14th century.
Today you can walk the crenellated battlements and survey lush rice fields lying along-
side the Rio Mondego far below. Inside little remains but part of the ruined Paço das Infantas