Adega - Artistic Residences
Retiro do Raposo Restaurant
Museum of Wine and Vineyard - Bucelas
Alqueidão Fort
Santo Quintino Church
Interpretation Centre - Sobral de Monte Agraço
Interpretation Centre - Bucelas
Ajuda Grande Fort
With our guide in hand, visit our forts, have lunch in Bucelas and discover the artist in you by doing an artist residency at Sobral de Monte Agraço.
Take a break from the hectic pace of everyday life and, very close to Lisbon, take the opportunity to regain your strength at Adega – Residências Artísticas, a place full of charm and where you will be received in a warm and attentive manner.
The project, by Joaquim Ferreira, professor of Mathematics and passionate about the Arts, is located in the village of Almargem. The building preserves its history, breathes art and promotes environmental sustainability. Guests have at their disposal a studio-room for artistic creation, a garden, and five bedrooms, some of which with a terrace, so that they can enjoy the pure country air, punctuated by the sounds brought by nature and by the church bell of a nearby temple of great beauty that will not leave you indifferent. Take a walk along stretches of military roads that lead you to the main forts of Lisbon's Defence Lines, or visit the picturesque historical centre of the village of Sobral de Monte Agraço, these are possibilities among many others that the region offers you.
Very close to the centre of the charming village of Bucelas, Retiro do Raposo specializes in traditional Portuguese cuisine, serving excellent gastronomic specialties and diverse regional dishes in a welcoming space. Dona Esmeralda is the perfect hostess of this Raposo family retreat. The pyro-engraved menus and signed canvases reflect the personal taste of those who give character to this space, where even the kitchen is in the hands of one of the family members. Take advantage of the particular harvest of Arinto and let yourself be carried away by the cod at Retiro do Raposo, where the beautiful flakes of the faithful friend are wrapped in turnip greens and a real potato purée. In a cosy, bucolic and rural environment, the list offers other suggestions worthy of recollection and tasting, such as the atabafado pot.
In a building historically linked to the local winemaking tradition, the museum guarantees a fruitful visit, bringing together, in a generous space, objects, representations, and the art of wine and vine that we normally take for granted. It presents, in the permanent exhibition area, the main stages of work in the vineyard and the traditional means of wine production, as well as an exhibition in “augmented reality”, with the representation of all stages of winemaking.
The space has a well-stocked store, with a space for tastings. Here you can enjoy the best wines in the region, but don't forget to toast to the Capital of Arinto with one of the available DOC wines!
The Museum of Wine and Vineyards – Bucelas received from APOM, in 2014, an honourable mention in the Portuguese Museum Prize category, and in 2019 it was awarded the Prize of the Association of Portuguese Wine Municipalities.
Established on the highest point of the First Defensive Line of Lisbon, prepared for 27 artillery pieces and with a capacity for around 1600 men, the fort crossed its fire with that of the forts of Machado, Simplício and Trinta, completely enclosing the Olmeiro mountain range and making it a great entrenchment. It received the tactical command post from Arthur Wellesley, Supreme Commander of the Allied Army and future Duke of Wellington, during the period in which he remained in the Lines of Torres Vedras. The tactical device of the Alqueidão Fort played a decisive role in the withdrawal of French Marshal Masséna, especially after Junot's failed attack on the village of Seramena. Like the other forts of the Linhas de Torres Vedras, it is now classified as a National Monument.
A National Monument since 1910, the church of Santo Quintino – French saint whose devotion was probably introduced by the crusaders who came to help the Portuguese kings in the Christian Reconquest – was built by King Manuel in 1520, on top of an old chapel dedicated to Santa Maria de Monte Agraço. It is one of the most beautiful temples of Manueline and Renaissance architecture in the Lisbon region. It boasts a portico from the 16th century, with several decorative elements of Manueline and Renaissance style. Its interior is an authentic tile museum, covering from the 16th Century to the 18th Century. The church also houses painting, statuary and architectural pieces of high value.
Despite having received several restoration interventions, the church was spared the destruction and looting caused by French troops during their presence in the region, benefiting from the fact that an advanced headquarters of the Anglo-Portuguese army was installed nearby.
Located in the beautiful historical centre of Sobral de Monte Agraço, in a square that was the scene of one of the most decisive combats that took place in the Lines of Torres Vedras region, this Interpretation Centre aims to safeguard, study and promote the heritage of the military defence system that dictated the definitive withdrawal of the Napoleonic army from Portugal.
The Interpretation Centre has a permanent exhibition room, a video projection room and an Educational Service that offers a range of activities, both for the little ones and for families. The CILT also exhibits, among other objects of interest, a collection of weapons from the Peninsular War, a model of the then innovative English optical telegraph used in the Lines of Torres Vedras, interactive and light tables, digital maps of the main battles in Portugal and Spain, and uniforms soldiers of the time, in an environment that allows both the study of the events of the Napoleonic period and the enjoyment of the narrative and pictorial elements associated with it.
Installed in the pleasant Wine and Vineyard Museum, in the heart of the historical centre of the village of Bucelas, the Interpretation Centre aims to promote knowledge about the Peninsular War, as well as to preserve the history, culture and collective memory of a people who, at the beginning of the 19th century, in favour of a common cause, came together to erect the system of military fortifications that guaranteed the defence of the city of Lisbon. It is one of the six Interpretation Centres of the Lines of Torres Vedras.
As he collects information about the complexity of Lisbon's Defensive Lines, the visitor is challenged to learn about the difficulties of the local populations, whether in the construction of field fortifications and military roads, or in the provision of supplies and in the daily war effort, indispensable to the logistics of the military machine organised to face the invader.
Located to the north of the parish of Bucelas, next to the village of Alrota, its mission was to cover the military road that came from Arruda and allowed access to Bucelas. It coordinated its action with that of the Ajuda Pequena Fort, located further north, on the same limestone platform, ensuring control of the area between these two positions and that of Carvalha Fort, in Arruda dos Vinhos. As it was located between the First and Second Lines of Defence, it was, at the same time, a delaying position for the enemy force in case of withdrawal from the first and an advanced observation post for the second.
Extending over a platform that opens onto a pleasant panoramic view, it allows a visual reading of the strategy on which the construction of the Lines of Torres Vedras was based.
