This tiny hamlet of 150 residents at the remote eastern edge of Portugal may be the country’s most fascinating place that has hardly been written about. Once an important Roman City with its own garrison, Idanha-a-Velha (then called Egitanea) was home to 200,000 people in the first century. It was so prominent that it became a diocesan seat in 599 AD and had its own bishop for 600 years. In its prime, the city erected a cathedral, baptistery, and bishop’s palace. It even had a center to coin gold. Then the empire collapsed. Chaos followed as the doomed city changed hands from Muslims to Christians to Knights Templar, never returning to its former glory. You can still see evidence of each of these civilizations today. Ruins and marked landmarks make Idanha a national monument today, though few have heard of it.