Obidos is a charming little medieval village that wins my heart for being a book lovers dream. Literature is so central to the city’s current identity that churches, markets and hotels have been transformed into libraries or bookstores. UNESCO has declared Obidos one of its few cities of literature, and we even happened to be there during one of its annual book festivals: the FOLIO International Literature Festival.
Not only that, but the old town is charming with its brightly whitewashed buildings splashed with blue or yellow accents and adorned with brightly coloured vines of bougainvilleas. A ring of medieval walls surrounds the village. Everywhere you look is a picture-perfect moment.
Buying Vegetables? Grab a Book While You’re at it
In the 2010s, Obidos was in needed of revitalization. As the country had no specific funding programs for conservation and rejuvenation, city council had to get creative. The thought arose to preserve sites of cultural significance through the use of literature and creative innovation. By 2011-2013, European funds were granted to restore a set of dilapidated buildings and turn them into to creative spaces.
This is how Obidos, a town without any significant literary history, came to house a series of bookstores in unlikely spaces. The deactivated Church of Santiago was turned into the Santiago bookshop: a store within a church with floating shelves that do not interfere with the original architectural features of the church.
The Literary Man Hotel is a 19th century convent turned into a literary hotel and restaurant. You enter a room filled with books from ceiling to floor:
We even stumbled upon bookstores when we least expected it. I wandered into a small organic market and was startled to see, behind the tables of vegetables for sale, shelves and shelves full of books.
Chocolate, Liqueur & Christmas
Apart from books, Obidos is also home to other indulgences. While in town, you can sip on a glass of ginjinha, the sweet, cherry-based liqueur that originated there. It seemed every shop along the Main street was selling a sample. The International Chocolate Festival is also hosted annually in Obidos, where chocolate sculptures come to life for one week every year. Christmas is big to Obidos’ reputation as “Christmas City”, where the city turns into one big holiday theme park over the holiday season.
But, as one of our final stops on our trip to Portugal – we kept things simple on our visit. We browsed a few bookstores, strolled the pretty streets, and overall just soaked in the beauty of the town, its walls and main castle. Definitely one of the prettiest stops on our trip!
