THE CASTLE OF MONTEMOR-O-NOVO DATES BACK TO 1166, WHEN IT WAS TAKEN BY D. AFONSO HENRIQUES.
Outside its walls, the historic center, with its eighteenth-century noble palaces and streets that retain their low-medieval structure, such as Rua dos Almocreves and Travessa dos Chafarizes, with small squares full of houses built of rammed earth or stone, original doors, and works of mural painting and tiles of convent origin, is worth a long visit.
It was also the birthplace of St. João de Deus in 1495 and where Nobel Prize winner José Saramago set his novel Levantado do Chão in Lavre.