Where is the Alentejo?

If you drive two and a half hours into the centre of Portugal you will come upon the province of Alentejo. After a week in two cities, we were more than ready for some peace and quiet and a slower pace of life. We found it at Heridade de Maroteira, a cork farm/Agro-tourismo near Redondo. We are staying in a cute, but comfortable wood cabin on 512 acres of cork oak, some olive trees and a small vineyard. The owner of the farm, Phillip Mollett, and his family live on the property. Phillip makes a living by harvesting cork, fattening up pigs on the acorns, from which they get Iberian ham, and wine making. Other residents include chickens, goats, wild rabbits and five rescued dogs. Our favourite by far is Trash. She was found just after birth in the garbage and was bottle fed to keep her alive. Although she suffers from some brain damage, she is both energetic and loving. She is always up for a walk or some cuddles.

Our first full day in the Alentejo involved a road trip to Castelo de Vide and Marvao. We had been told to visit both places and since Friday was market day, we programmed the GPS and headed out (not as early as we'd hoped, but traveling is tiring). Upon our arrival in Castelo de Vide, we parked outside the castle wall and walked into the town. We immediately found the market and although most of the stalls were selling clothing and shoes, we hit the jackpot with an "antique" dealer. Lynda was very excited about the selection of goat bells and was able to purchase one on a leather collar for 10 Euros.  We had seen something similar in Nepal, but they were much costlier and not nearly as authentic looking. The day was scorching hot, but we explored the castelo, walked the crumbling remains of the walls and found the Fonte de Vila, the ancient source of mineral water for the town. 

We arrived in Marvao at around 4 pm. As you drive up the winding road towards the town, you are treated to an impressive view of the 13th century castelo. Its location and construction make it impenetrable. It was only seiged once by treason through a back entry. Again, we parked outside the town walls and walked in. We could have actually parked inside the walls because the town was virtually deserted. We explored our second castle of the day, walking the high walls, admiring the lush gardens and roaming the narrow streets. Marvao reminded us a lot of Gubbio in Italy. It was somewhere that we could have stayed had we known it was so nice

Saturday arrived and we had no plans other than to stay put. After a leisurely breakfast and a walk around the property with Trash and Arroba, we tackled our never ending pile of laundry. With the sun blazing by mid day, we knew it would dry quickly. We spent the latter part of the afternoon at the pool. It was about a fifteen minute walk from the cabin, but we cheated and drove down. It was quite the oasis surrounded by a brick wall, an iron gate and a variety of plants and citrus trees. The water was refreshing, and it was such a treat to be able to do nothing. The day was finished sitting in a small courtyard, watching the sun set over Alentejo, slowly uploading to our blog.

Most tourist sites are closed on Mondays so we got up early-ish and drove to Evora. It was very quiet on a Sunday morning and we were a bit let down by the absence of a castle. There were several churches and a palace to explore, but we were not inspired enough to pay the entry fees. We enjoyed a coffee in the Jardim de Diana, wandered around for a little bit and decided to move on to Alvito. Alvito is a small town 37 km southwest of Evora. The Lonely Planet guide for Portugal highly recommends it, but again, there was not much going on. By the time we arrived, we were starving so we treated ourselves to lunch at the former 15th century castle which is now a luxury pousada. We were the only guests in the restaurant. Craig ordered the most interesting and tasty tomato soup. It was served with a poached egg in the middle of it. After lunch we made our way back to Redondo and our wood lodge. We are eating later now, but we have been using the BBQ to cook our meals. Food is very inexpensive and we are saving money by cooking for ourselves. 

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