The road travelled by Queen Isabel on her journeys between Coimbra and Estremoz. The crossing of the Tejo River took place here.
The most popular story about Queen St Isabel is undoubtedly that of the miracle of the roses. According to Portuguese legend, the queen left Leiria Castle one winter's morning to distribute loaves of bread to the underprivileged. Surprised by the sovereign, who asked her where she was going and what she was carrying in her lap, the queen allegedly exclaimed: They're roses, Lord! Suspicious, King Dinis asked: Roses in January? Isabel then exposed the contents of the lap of her dress and there were roses in it, instead of the loaves of bread she had hidden.
The exact time when this legend appeared in Portuguese tradition has not been determined. It doesn't appear in an anonymous biography of the queen written in the 14th century, but it circulated orally throughout the country in the last decades of that century. The oldest known record is a four-century altarpiece preserved in the National Art Museum of Catalonia.
The first written record of the miracle of the roses can be found in the Chronicle of the Friars Minor:
Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal was once carrying the Holy Queen coins in her lap to give to the poor (...) Meeting her el-Rei asked her what she was carrying, (...) she said, I am carrying roses here. And the King saw that there was no time for roses. Isabel of Aragon, Queen of Portugal
- Chronicle of the Friars Minor, Friar Marcos of Lisbon, 1562