The legend of Mareares, How The Castle of Aljezur Was Conquest by the Christians

A local tradition falls in the realm of legend episode of Castle of Aljezur conquest by the Christians:

Aware of the privileged position of the castle and the close watch kept by the Moors, D. Palo Peres Correia, Portuguese dispatched some scouts to test the waters and habits of the population of the people in order to outline their assault plan. In the field, they managed to entice a Moorish of rare beauty, Maria Aires, which informed them practicing an ancient custom of the inhabitants of the region, to bathe on the beach of Amoreira at dawn on June 24.

Based on this information, the D. Palo arranged his men so that on the night of 23 to 24 that month, if conceal the neighboring valley to the castle, now known as Sancho valley, certainly in honor of the sovereign time, Sancho II of Portugal. Camouflaged with vegetation, they waited for the movement of the Moors towards the beach in the early hours. As soon as it began, Christians, still covered in darkness, embarked on the final approach to the assault on the village and castle unguarded. At this time, a girl, the granddaughter of an old woman who had stayed behind in the village, noting the unusual movement out of doors, ran to warn her grandmother that the bushes were walking. The old lady explained to her granddaughter the effects of the breeze on vegetation when surprised Christians burst through the doors, dominating the lady who even brought to the alarm, ringing a bell in the tower of the tank. Lords of the land, the Portuguese then raised the alarm, attracting supporters to a death trap inside the enclosure.

With the village won for the arms of Portugal, D. Palo, it states that touched by the charms of the beautiful Maria Aires, saved his life and honor, making him build a house in the immediate vicinity of the town that even today, in his memory, called Mareares.

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