Castelo de Atouguia da Baleia (Ruins)

Atouguia da Baleia, Portugal, Portugal

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Castelo de Atouguia da Baleia ruins in Atouguia da Baleia, Portugal, date to the 12th century when King Afonso Henriques granted the lands, then called Tauria, to French Crusaders in 1158 for aiding the Lisbon conquest, leading to the castle's construction as a coastal defense against pirates and invaders.

Receiving charters in 1167, 1218, and 1510—renamed "da Baleia" after a 1526 whale stranding—it thrived under King Dinis with shipbuilding and anti-piracy operations led by Genoese admiral Manuel Pessanha, hosting General Courts in 1373 amid river silting that later diminished its port role.

Classified as a Property of Public Interest in 2006, only a tower—possibly not the keep—and wall fragments survive today, with recent excavations revealing medieval sections amid Roman ceramic traces, symbolizing the village's faded maritime prominence before Peniche's rise.