Setúbal lies about fifty kilometres south of Lisbon, on the north bank of the estuary of the Sado river. With about 125,000 people in its municipality, it is one of the country's larger cities and one of its main ports, with a long tradition of fishing, canning and salt. Few foreign tourists come here, but it deserves more than one visit: it has a pleasant old town, excellent fish cooking and, around it, some of the most beautiful scenery on the Portuguese coast.
A little history
The area was inhabited in prehistoric times, and in the Roman period fish-salting and garum factories flourished here: the most important remains are at Cetóbriga, on the Tróia peninsula opposite the city, but Roman tanks have also been found in central Setúbal. The modern city grew in the Middle Ages around the port and the trade in salt and fish. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it became a great centre of the sardine canning industry, now gone, and later of shipyards and industry. Setúbal is the birthplace of the poet Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage (1765-1805), one of the great names of Portuguese literature, and of the opera singer Luísa Todi (1753-1833), after whom the main avenue is named.
What to see in town
The most important monument is the Igreja de Jesus, begun in the 1490s to a design by Diogo Boitac: with its twisted columns of Arrábida stone, like coiled ropes, it is considered the first example of the Manueline style, which would later triumph in the Jerónimos monastery in Lisbon. The former convent next door houses the city museum, with a collection of sixteenth-century Portuguese paintings.
In the old town, among lanes and squares, you will find Praça do Bocage, with the poet's statue and the town hall, Bocage's birthplace and the cathedral of Santa Maria da Graça, with eighteenth-century azulejos. The Mercado do Livramento, one of Portugal's finest markets, is decorated with large azulejo panels and is the place to see the freshly landed fish. Along Avenida Luísa Todi, a broad tree-lined boulevard, are cafés, restaurants and gardens.
On the hill to the west stands the Fort of São Filipe, built between 1582 and 1595 under Spanish rule to defend the port and control the city. The chapel inside is lined with eighteenth-century azulejos by Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes depicting the life of Saint Philip, and the ramparts offer a splendid view over the estuary, Tróia and the Arrábida.
The Sado estuary and its dolphins
The Sado estuary is a nature reserve rich in water birds, including flamingos, and is famous for its small resident community of bottlenose dolphins, which live in its waters all year round. Boat trips leave from the port to watch them, with operators following strict rules so as not to disturb them. Along the estuary are also the salt pans and rice fields around Alcácer do Sal.
Tróia and the Serra da Arrábida
The ferry crosses the estuary in a few minutes to the Tróia peninsula, a long tongue of sand with white beaches, dunes, resorts and the Roman ruins of Cetóbriga. Further south the coast continues with the wild beaches of Comporta and the Alentejo coast.
West of the city rises the Serra da Arrábida, a range of limestone hills covered in Mediterranean scrub that drops steeply into a turquoise sea. The Arrábida Natural Park has some of the country's most beautiful beaches, such as Portinho da Arrábida, Galapinhos and Figueirinha, the sixteenth-century convent of Nossa Senhora da Arrábida and spectacular scenic roads. In summer car access to the beaches is restricted and the shuttle buses are the best option. At the foot of the hills are the fishing town of Sesimbra, with its Moorish castle, and the wineries of Azeitão, home of Moscatel de Setúbal and Azeitão sheep's cheese.
Food and getting there
Setúbal's signature dish is choco frito, fried cuttlefish, but you will also eat excellent grilled fish, caldeirada and seafood here, ideally with a glass of Moscatel. From Lisbon you can come by Fertagus train across the 25 de Abril bridge, by bus or by car, in under an hour.