Know more about our town

Torres Vedras is nowadays a lively center with a fine commerce and there are lots of things to do in our region.
Local challenges:
•    Historic Places
      In the Town

The castle

Rising above the town, the walls of the 13th century castle have been restored and enclose a pleasant garden and the church of Santa Maria do Castelo.
The primitive fortification of Torres Vedras is still of unknown origin, but the studies indicate that the romans were probably the first ones to settle on this place. Nevertheless, the Moors rebuilt and enlarged the fortification and, after the reconquest by King Afonso Henriques, the castle took is actual shape. King D. Manuel I proceeded to its reedification in 1516, which the ogival entrance is the testimony.
The castle suffered great damage during the napoleonic invasions in the beginning of the 19th century. 

St. Mary's Church

This church is located inside the walls of the medieval Castle and is considered a national monument. The church has an ancient origin because, in its façade, the remains of a romanic portal are visible.
Inside just a note to a little 15th century sculpture of Saint Mary.

 St.Peter´s Church

The church entrance is a manuelin portal with renaissance-influenced decoration. On top its visible the coat-of-arms of King D. João III and D. Catarina of Austria.
The wooden door is dated from 1712.

around the town

Castro do Zambujal

Castro do Zambujal. 3 km from TorresVedras

Here you can find the ruins of a prehistoric fortified city, dating back to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC  attesting early prehistoric human occupation in the area.

St. Vincent's fortress

This fortress located on top of the highest hill near Torres Vedras was an important fortification, along with the medieval Castle, for the so called Lines of Torres Vedras.
Its location was priviliged because it could defend the main road from Coimbra to Lisbon.
During those war times the fortress had 2200 soldiers, 39 artillery cannons and a telegraphic post.
The Lines of Torres, were a system of 152 fortifications, blockhouses, redoubts and ravelins built under the order of General Wellesley, Duke of Wellington to protect the city of Lisbon from the French troops under the command of Marshal Masséna. They’re, from an historical point of view, one of the most important examples in the field of military strategy.tretching from the Atlantic to the Tagus (Tejo).

St. Anthony’s Convent

cloister

   Tiles in the church

•    Touristic places
       in the country                   

   Windmills

       on the beach       
                                                                   in  Santa Cruz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_7gji2GNIU&feature=relatedSanta Cruz Kayak Surf Festival 2010
Santa Cruz and its outskirts are favoured with a group of beaches with extensive miles of golden sands, surrounded by majestic cliffs.

annual festivities

Carnival

  

“Torres, today, already needs its Carnival and will not be far the day that Torres will need it, as much as today it needs to sell its wine. (…) and the country itself could have in Torres Vedras its own Carnival - the Carnival of Portugal!”
In Linhas de Torres, 1935
From 1980, the Carnival of Torres grew more professional, and has continued to grow year after year, rejecting external costumes and assuming itself as the most Portuguese of Portugal’s carnivals.

St. Peter's fair

These fair is a demonstration of the strength of business in the region and one of the best trade fairs held in Portugal.
It has more than 350 commercial exhibitors, and also with areas of restaurants , pubs, bars, entertainment and traditional fairground.