5 Best Sights in Estremadura and the Ribatejo, Portugal

The 14th-century Gothic church contains the gravestone of Pedro Álvares Cabral, the discoverer of Brazil. (There's also a tomb of the explorer in Belmonte, the town of his birth in northeastern Portugal, but no one is really sure just what—or who—is in which tomb.) Note the delicate rose window whose setting was carved from a single slab of stone. 

The 17th-century artist Josefa de Óbidos came to the town as a small child and lived here until her death in 1684. You can see some of her work in the azulejo-lined Church of Saint Mary, which was a Visigoth temple in the 8th century. The church is in a square off Rua Direita. Next door is a small, charming museum dedicated to the work of local artist and theater designer Abílio de Mattos e Silva.

The 13th-century Igreja de Santa Maria do Olival—still set in an olive grove, as the name suggests—is where the bones of several Knights Templar are interred, including those of Gualdim Pais, founder of the order in Portugal; his original tomb slab, dated from 1195, can still be seen inside. The church later served the same purpose for the Order of Christ, which succeeded the Templars in the 14th century. Popular belief—supported by some archaeological evidence—has it that the church was once connected with the Convent of Christ by a tunnel.

One of the area's most interesting churches is the Church of Saint Leonard in Atouguia da Baleia, a 10-minute drive inland. Dating back to the 12th century, it features Romanesque, Gothic, and Manueline architectural elements, and a ceiling depicting scenes from the Old Testament.