Today was the start of the castle tour. The eastern part of
the Alentejo region has a long border with Spain – the old enemy – and both
sides of the border were heavily fortified. We left the castle of Beja and our
route would take us past the castles of Serpa, Moura, Mourao and finally
Monsaraz. So common are the castles in this area that the Michelin map doesn’t
even bother to mark them. By the time that we got to Mourao we were within 8km
of the Spanish border and Monsaraz is even closer, although it did have the
advantage of having the Guadiana river in between.
I am getting ahead of myself as we stopped at Serpa first,
parking by the fish, fruit and veg market, within very easy strolling distance
of the old town. We bought some bread and some famous (in Portugal, at least)
sheep’s cheese from a market shop and then set off to the old town. The first
thing that we came across was the town walls with a 11th century
aqueduct on the top of it, built to supply a palace within the walls, it had a
complex mechanism to raise the water to the level required. Inside the walls
are many small houses and winding lanes that lead to the castle. This is only a
shell but the curtain walls are intact and it is possible to walk on the walls
and, as always with castles, admire the views from the top.
We didn’t stop at Pias, which looked interesting but we
weren’t quite sure where the centre was. However, we did stop at Moura and had
lunch in a car park whilst watching the only other car in the car park being
rescued by a breakdown truck. A walk up through traditional single-storied
houses with lots of flowers outside took us to the castle, which was again just
a shell but this time contained a tourist information centre. The lady at the
centre was very helpful and although she spoke very little English, this was
complemented by a number of English language brochures, two of which deserve a
mention. Now I need to state that we, at 60, do not consider ourselves to be
‘seniors’ but I picked up the brochure titled ‘Active Seniors – Tourism
Itinerary of the Alentejo’. I must recommend this to everyone, whether a senior
or not or indeed whether active or not. It gives an excellent condensed guide
to the region, especially on the pull-out map where each town is mentioned with
its highlights. We had picked up an Alentejo Wines brochure in Beja, which I
had expected to be interesting but turned out to consist of pretty pictures and
marketing bullshit (apologies for the language). In Moura however they has a
brochure entitled ‘Wineries to visit in the Alentajo’ which not only had
details of many wineries and their visiting times but was packed with
fascinating information and trivia. If you are thinking of visiting the area then
get the brochures and start reading!
Approaching Mourao we came across (literally at one point)
the Baragem d’Alqueva. This is Europe’s largest reservoir and is 83 km long,
has a shoreline of 1,200 km and a surface area of 250 sq. km (thank you
‘Wineries’ brochure). It is not like a conventional reservoir with one large
integral expanse of water but has numerous tendrils that spread out over a vast
area.
Climbing considerably to the aire at Monsaraz (over 700m),
we started to see extensive views over the surrounding land and could start to
appreciate the size of the Alqueva that stretches north and south. To the
north-east, the reservoir spreads into Spain and it must have been an
interesting negotiation that was had with the Spanish authorities. After many
years, in 2006 the reservoir reached its intended depth although hydro-electric
power generation had started in 2004. In the largely farming-based economy of
Portugal with its hot climate, water is a very important resource and
irrigation is crucial. Alentejo is sprinkled (pardon the pun) with reservoirs
that supply many farming communities.
We arrived at Monsaraz as the sky began to colour as sunset
approached. Although the cloud cover meant that the views were not as clear as
they might have been, the colour added to the scene that greeted us. When we
visit aires like this, we feel really privileged to be able stay somewhere with
such fantastic views, often paying very little or, as in this case, for free.
Campsites are rarely in such beautiful positions and to stay in a hotel with
this view would cost a fortune, meanwhile we stay in our 5-star, en-suite
accommodation and we don’t even have to unpack!
The aire is directly below the walls of the small town and
we walked up into it to investigate. It is a fascinating place with traditional
houses and, being a big tourist attraction, quite a few restaurants. We chose
the least touristy restaurant ‘Lumumba’, which only had a handwritten menu of
ten dishes that was obviously changed on a regular basis. We both chose
Alentejo Pork, a stew of pork and clams, which sounds an unlikely combination
but was absolutely delicious. The very good bottle of house wine was €6 (£4.50)
and the desert of Pudim Flan (crème caramel) went down well.
Photos: The Serpa town wall and 11th century
aqueduct; If you haven’t got a garden, why not use the roof? – Serpa; Typical
Alentejo houses in Moura; View from Moura Castle with olive trees stretching
into the distance; The view of Monsaraz Castle from the aire.
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