Towards the end of last year I travelled out to Évora to shoot the Albergaria do Calvario, a boutique hotel inside the walls of the old town, in the historic heart of the city. These are some of my favourite images and you can see more on their website HERE. SaveSave SaveSave
Last summer we spent some time in Monforte in the Alentejo, where we discovered the beautiful Torre de Palma Wine Hotel a short drive from the town. This is a stunning part of the Alentejo and an area that I hadn´t yet explored… it´s a bit off the beaten track but well worth a visit.
Most of my husband´s family is from the Alentejo and half of them still live out there, in various towns scattered across the countryside. This works out perfectly as we are always visiting one house or the other and the Alentejo just so happens to be my favourite part of Portugal. This is Alcaçovas, where we spend our Easters.
Marvão is a small town in the northern region of the Alentejo, very close to the Spanish border. Like many other border towns with ancient origins, the purpose of it´s existence was to protect against invading enemy troops which is why it is heavily fortified and perched on top of a hill with an unobstructed view for kilometres in every direction. It seems I have a bit of a thing for these border towns and it´s fascinating to visit them spread out from north to south along the border… their reasons for existence are all the same but the way they´ve been…
And last but not least, in this series of Alentejo towns, is Avis… a quiet little place in the northern Alentejo that (I have been told) has the rather dubious claim to fame of having been, once upon a time, the capital of Portugal. This was because the king at that time was from here and he didn´t want to be bothered by moving home and family all the way to Lisbon, so he just simply declared Avis to be the capital and that was that. The joys of a monarchy 😉 However, while trying to find out if this…
Mértola was one of the first places I visited in Portugal, back in 2007 while here on holiday for the first time. I remember being fascinated by the tiny white houses and mismatched roof tiles, so very different to what I was used to back home… but the thing that made the biggest impression, that took my breath away quite literally, was the heat. So much heat. No wind, no shade, just hot white light reflecting everywhere and a cloudless blue sky burning down from above. So keeping that in mind, try not to visit in the peak of summer… not…
Another place we visited on our tour of the Alentejo was the Coudelaria de Alter (the Alter Stud Farm). This was an important stop on the “Portugal Itinerary” as my sister and my mom are both very horsey people and therefore my dad didn´t have any choice in the matter. I would never have thought to visit if my sister hadn´t insisted but it was definitely worth it, it´s a beautiful place and the horses are magnificent.
Over the next 5 weeks I´m going to be blogging a series of Alentejo towns… an Alentejo special! My family came to visit us in May, it was their first time in Portugal so we spent 3 weeks driving the country flat and because this is my favourite part, we spent quite a lot of time exploring the region. Monsaraz is a small hill-top town on the Alqueva lake, right on the border with Spain. Because of it´s strategic location on a hill near the Spanish border it is one of the oldest towns in the southern part of Portugal…
Kerry Murray 