Guarda , at over 1000m, is the highest town in Portugal built on a plateau on the north-east flank of the Serra da Estrela (Estrela mountains).

It is chilly and windswept all year round and offers superb views. The city was founded in 1197 by Dom Sancho I to guard his borders against both Moors and Spaniards, and though the castle and walls have all but disappeared, its arcaded streets and little squares can be distinctly picturesque.

The train station is 3km north of the centre but there is, fortunately, a connecting bus that meets all the major trains; the bus station is about four hundred meters southeast of the cathedral, in the heart of the old town. Dour and grey, the castellated facade of the Cathedral looks like the gateway of a castle, but around the sides the exterior is lightened by flying buttresses, pinnacles and grimacing gargoyles. Inside it's surprisingly lofty, with twisted pillars and vaulting influenced by the Manueline style. The huge carved stone retable is by Joao de Rouao, a leading figure in the sixteenth-century resurgence of Portuguese sculpture at Coimbra. A short way east there are modern and imaginative displays of local archeology, art and sculpture in the Museu de Guarda (Tues-Sun 10am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; ?1.25). Of the Castle , on a bleak little hill nearby, only the square keep survives, while the walls are recalled by just three surviving gates. The cobbled streets of the old town, though, are fascinating in themselves - the tangled area between the Porta da Estrela and Porta do Rei , north of the cathedral, has changed little in the past four hundred years.

There are two tourist offices : a central one on Praca Luis de Camoes (Mon-Fri 9am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; tel 271 222 251), where you can pick up a town map: and a more helpful one next to the modern Camara Municipal (Tues-Fri 9.30am-noon & 2-6pm, Sat closes 8pm; tel 271 221 817).

Informatioin courtesy of Travelnow and Rough City Guides Lda