Ninocas wanted to inaugurate my new mailbox and chose this card to do so. She didn't know but this great card from Castro Marim was in my favorites wall. Loved it.
Set in the rolling green landscape overlooking the broadening of the river Guadiana is the timeworn village of Castro Marim.
Not far from the Atlantic Ocean and just across this natural border with
Spain Castro Marim has been strategically important throughout history.
As far back as Roman times the river here was used to mark the boundary
between what was then Lusitania and Baetica, which were to become Spain
and Portugal respectively.
Like most of the Algarve, Castro Marim was occupied by the Moors. For
five centuries they defended the village from a primitive hilltop
fortress. However, in 1242 the Reconquests swept the region and the
Christian forces of Afonso III recaptured Castro Marim.
© Edição Vistal * Foto © Art & Concept Gustav A. Wittich
It was during the ensuing years that Castro Marim's character as a
fortress-town was set. The policy of the king was to repopulate and
defend the recaptured areas of the kingdom. For somewhere as
strategically important as Castro Marim this meant building an
impressive castle, which now dominates the town. Not only was the
village physically fortified, but spiritually with it becoming the
headquarters of the order of Christ, established in 1319 to replace the
Order of the Knights Templar.
Perhaps the most notable building besides the castle is the 18th century church, the Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Mártires. Brilliant white in the Algarvian style the church has several fine features, most notably the impressive dome and bell tower. - in: https://www.travel-in-portugal.com/castro-marim
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