Beja

About

Inhabited since the Bronze Age, Beja became the region’s capital under Roman rule in the 1st century. Rising sharply out of the fertile plains, the town is crowned with a 14th century castle, which was built on the site of a Roman fort. While the castle is mostly ruins, visitors can still scale its 36 meter keep for fantastic views of the village below. Huddled against the castle walls is the 4th century church of Santo Amaro. One of the few remaining Visigothic churches in the country, it houses one of the premier collections of Visigothic artefacts. The former Convent of Our Lady of the Conception, a late-Gothic structure with Manueline and Moorish elements now houses the Museum of Queen Eleanor. Here visitors can marvel at both the ecclisiastic elements, and an important collection of Flemish, Spanish and Portuguese paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries.