Dominating the south of the peninsula, Peniche’s imposing 16th-century fortress was used in the 20th-century as one of dictator Salazar’s infamous jails for political prisoners.
By the entrance where prisoners once received visitors – the stark booths with glass partitions are preserved – is the Núcleo-Resistência, a grim but fascinating display about those times including Resistance leaflets and prisoners' poignant, beautifully illustrated letters to their children.
Housed inside the fortress complex, the Museu Municipal's most striking feature is the top floor, which has a row of cells for political prisoners from the dictatorship years, some used for solitary confinement. Floors below this contain a non-thrilling municipal mishmash, from Roman archaeological artefacts to shipwreck finds.
