Reached by a drawbridge and bordered by a park with floral designs, hedges and grand old oaks, the 17th-century Forte de São Francisco is the centrepiece of Chaves’ old town. The fort, with its thick walls, was completed in 1658 around a 16th-century Franciscan convent. These days it’s a top-end hotel , though nobody minds if you snoop around inside the walls.
