Marvão

Since at least the Roman period, the rocks of Marvõ have been used as a refuge or as a strategic military point. The town was conquered from the Muslims by D. Afonso Henriques during 1160/1166, having been taken again by the Moors in 1190. In 1226 D. Sancho II ordered the expansion of the castle and in 1299 D. Dinis disputed and took possession of the castle and the even began to have great strategic importance in wars with the Castilians. The title of Mui Nobre e Semper Leal was granted to Vila de Marvao by Queen D. Maria II. O Marvão Castle is classified as a National Monument, by Decree published on July 4, 1922.

Elvas

Elvas is a Portuguese city and is the largest city in the Portalegre district. Elvas was the most important stronghold on the Portuguese border, the most fortified city in Europe, and was therefore called "Queen of the Border". The Goths and Celts were the first inhabitants of this authentic "fortress city". In 714, the Arabs conquered it and gave it the name "al-Bash", leaving so many marks of their presence that some still persist to this day. During the reign of D. Afonso Henriques, more precisely in 1166, Elvas was conquered from the Moors for the first time. It was later reconquered by Muslims and reconquered again by Christianity, being definitively integrated into Portuguese territory by D. D. Sancho II, in 1229. On January 14, 1659, its lines of walls and the Santa Luzia fort played a defensive role. important in the outcome of the Restoration War, in the Battle of the Elvas Lines.

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Estremoz

Estremoz is known internationally for its deposits of white marble, the so-called Estremoz Marble. The exploitation of Estremoz marble has a very ancient origin, as evidenced by the Roman Temple of Evora, which contains marble originating from Estremoz. Estremoz was granted the distinction of «Notable Town», attributed by the kings of Portugal to many of its towns; it was elevated to the category of city in 1926. In 1336, Queen Santa Isabel, she traveled to Estremoz from the Franciscan convent in Coimbra where she had retreated after the death of D. Dinis, her husband, in order to avoid a war between her son Afonso IV and the king of Castile Afonso XI. Estremoz was the place of death of King D. Pedro I, in 1367, in Franciscan convent. It was near Estremoz that the first battle between the Portuguese and Castilians at the time took place, the battle of Atoleiros.