A thick blanket of cloud covered the aire when we awoke and
we could only just see the fence 15m away. However, the cloud soon lifted and
we were able to watch the early morning sun spread across the fantastic view.
The town of Marvao is very pretty and the impressive, if
tiny, castle looks to be well worth a visit but we decided that we had done
walled towns for the moment and decided to drive on.
From the Active Seniors booklet and with more detail in the Reguengos
de Monsaraz Tour Guide, we found out that there was an ‘archaeological park’
just a few kilometres down the road. Like Monsaraz, this area has a lot of
preserved Prehistoric remains and there were a number that could be visited. We
found signs to the Anta (dolmen) de Melrica (4 – 3,000BC) and I boldly followed
them down a narrow asphalted lane. We found the dolmen two fields from the road
and it was well worth the visit. However, there were no places to turn around and
the narrow lane continued without a break into the distance. A long reserving
procedure followed with Jane acting as banksman and much clutch-slipping was
required. Still, we reached the road with only my pride damaged.
We were now heading slightly off route to the Barragem of
Povoa where Vicarious Books showed a starred aire. The landscape had become
very rocky and in amongst the rocks was an intriguing rock-built building complete
with an animal pen. It had a sign to it that read ‘Lancheiras’ and was
obviously worthy of a visit, being old or ancient. The roof was unsupported
inside, kept up simply by the large slabs of rock overlapping until they joined
in the centre. Unfortunately, there was no notice board to give us more
information about its age or use.
Further on, we walked across a short stretch of moorland to
a passaged dolmen, the Anta Currais do Galhordas (3,000BC) which the board told
us was in a poor state of preservation but was impressive nonetheless.
The reservoir with its rocky landscape is very pretty and
the popular aire has a great view of it – well worth a stay some time. Exploring
the area and the other prehistoric monuments would be fun. We used the dumping
facilities at the aire and then headed back to the route.
Pressing on now we used the motorway to speed up progress. As
we drove north, we converged with a mountain range and got very close by the
time that we reached our destination of Belmonte.
Photos: Marvao castle is very well preserved and looks very
impressive but it is actually very thin, being on a very narrow ridge; Just
part of the wonderful view from the Marvao aire; YAC (Yet Another Castle) at
Castelo de Vide; Anta de Melrica; The ‘Lancheiras’; Back home in Somerset,
Shepton (meaning sheep town) Mallet has a roundabout with a few stone sheep on
it and it is a very popular landmark. Here in Belmonte they have taken this one
step further, adding a shepherd, sheep dog and some goats – great fun.
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