Almendres Cromlech

 

Next on my trip in Alentejo was a visit to the Cromlech of Almendres, one of the biggest megalithic structure in Europe.

It was a little hard to find, the road was really bad, and actually we got lost on our way and found another smaller structure somewhere in the opposite direction.

When we finally found it, it was a little disappointing: it is big, yes, it is very old, yes, but kinda nothing happens there, just a big pile of  big rocks...no magic, no extraordinary feeling.. although it is very interesting to from where architecture started and go back the roots.

Anyway, I advise you to go visit them if you are on your way to Evora. They are relatively close to the main road (around 14 km) and if you follow the signs you willl have no problem in finding them.

Trip to Alentejo: Montemor-o-novo

Another beautiful part of Portugal I've discovered over my trip this weekend is Alentejo (the South-Central part of the country), and the first city I've visited was Montemor-o-novo.

As I will later on notice, this little city is a typical one for this region - an area rich in agriculture with olives tree orchards, cork tree forests, cows, sheep and pigs running free on the green fields, with very small medieval cities spread around in between the hills.

The architecture is unitary: white houses with painted accents of yellow, blue or red as well as ajulezos accents (but very few comparing to Lisbon) glued together  to form medieval  

urban tissue - with narrow, labyrinthine streets going up hill to a stone castle that reigns over the area from the higher place. This can be named the "the Alentejo model of a city" - with no exception! (I've seen this weekend at least 20 castles - one in every city).

But what makes this city special, and the castle (now just ruins) unique is that this is the place where the important decisions were made, such as the decision to go and discover India as well as the decision to build the University of Coimbra.

Besides the castle and the breathtaking view over the surroundings there is not much to see in this very little city - maybe just walk for a while on the streets discovering the beauty of the place and taking in the atmosphere as well as observing the peaceful and quiet way of life of the people here (for example you can notice that every house has this stone washer that women use to wash the clothes by hand, as in the old times).

So if you want to slow down and breathe the fresh, clean air, I recommend a trip to Alentejo - the place where time stops.

Lisbon from above

One thing that I love about Lisbon is the fact that it is constructed on 7 hills, so you have a lot of points to admire the city from above. Some of them:

    Alfama

    Castelo Sao Jorge

    Elevador de Castelo

    Elevador de Baixa

    Rooftop in Graca

   Miradouro Sofia de Mello

   Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara

    Monumento dos descobrimentos

    Random street towards Graca

Hiking trip - part 2

On the second day of the trip we walked to Praia dos Maces (first picture): an incredible place to swim a little and admire the ocean and the mountains. The little village around the beach seemed cosy too, with a lot of seafood restaurants that were not that expensive and lots of turists for this time of the year (don't wanna imagine how it's in the summer season)

After this stop, we continued our walk around the ocean coast until the little city Azenhas do Mar (before entering the city, there is a little belvedere point where you can see all the coast up to Cabo da Roca  and ever further away in both directions), which it's absolutely incredible. A very small city, with traditional Portuguese houses and the most peaceful atmosphere - a precious little gem encrusted on the mountain's peak and hanging above the ocean.

I absolutely loved this places and the coast line and I am very sad that we were too tired to go also to Praia Grande and Praia Pequena that were around 4 km away and which I heard that are gorgeous..but maybe next time.