Obidos Aqueduct 
Aqueduto de Obidos 
Final section of Obidos Aqueduct Óbidos Aqueduct
The arches of the Aqueduto de Óbidos, or Óbidos Aqueduct, together create a simplistic form that has cut across the landscape to supply the town with water since it was first constructed on the orders of Catherine of Austria, the queen consort to King João III, in the 1570s. To fund it, she had to sell other lands under her ownership nearby, demonstrating just how important she thought the project was.
Running to the southeast, it has a total length of three kilometres, connecting up with a further three kilometres of tunnels which then begin at a natural spring close to Usseira. At its other end, the aqueduct comes to a stop within the walls of Óbidos, from where it continues to supply the public fountains with fresh water to this day.
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Óbidos travel guide »
Perched on a hill rising out of an agricultural plain, Óbidos is one of Portugal’s picturesque gems. From its lofty centre one gazes upon expanses of vineyards speckled with whirling windmills and terracotta-roofed homesteads. Nearer, narrow cobbled streets, lined typically with whitewashed, bougainvillaea-draped houses, wind up to the walled interior; the name Óbidos stems from the Latin for…
