In the town of Leiria, north of Lisbon, west-central Portugal

 Afonso I rose from a count to a king. Through his leadership, in the 12th century, Afonso created an independent kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. He also established Portugal’s prestige by expanding its borders and overcoming his enemies -- and left behind a prosperous monarchy to his son.

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(in the Centro Region of west-central Portugal) The town of Leiria is found just a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean -- about 70 miles (115 km) north of Lisbon. Leiria originated as the Roman town of Collippo and was captured by the Moors early in the 8th century. After its reconquest in 1135 by Afonso I, the first king of Portugal, a Romanesque church was built that still remains, as does a well-preserved medieval castle. The first Portuguese printing press was established here in 1466. (An episcopal see, it has the Renaissance cathedral.) Quite an agreeable mixture of medieval and modern, Leiria is now a lively university town built at the foot of a promontory, fortified since Moorish times. The town’s dramatically sited castle commands a seemingly vigilant presence above the narrow streets and red-tiled roofs of the historic center of the town, built along the Rio Lis. Dom Afonso III convened a cortes (Portugal’s early parliament) here in 1254; Dom Dinis established his main residence in the castle in the 14th century; and in 1411, the town’s sizeable Jewish community built Portugal’s first paper mill. Modern-day Leiria exudes an ever-pleasant, low-key urban buzz -- and makes a convenient base for visiting nearby sights, including Alcobaça, Batalha, Fátima, and the Pinhal de Leiria.