Be brave and plan your trip away from Lisbon, Porto and The Algarve…you won’t regret it
While visiting this region, it’s hard not to be blown away by its vast golden fields with beautiful cork, olive and almond trees, far-reaching vineyards, charming walled villages with whitewashed houses and Moorish architecture, impressive castles, mouthwatering food and so much more.
My trip began in Évora where a short stroll helped me quickly realise how slow yet charming the city of Alentejo is.
Standing in the small public city park, looking out over the city, you are taken by the stunning aqueduct which runs just outside the medieval city wall.
In the main square you can find the Roman temple of Évora, also known as Diana Temple, which is one of the greatest and best preserved Roman temples in the Iberian peninsula. Because of this, it was considered as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1986.
Anna with Antonio Mestre, the Herdade do Sobroso vineyard
Around the corner from the Roman temple you will find the gothic Catedral de Évora which is as equally beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. An absolute must-visit.
One unique thing to do while in Evora is to visit the bone chapel… if you’re brave enough. The walls and pillars here are decorated with skulls and bones from 5,000 corpses.
It is believed that these belonged to poor people who couldn’t afford to be buried in a graveyard. The inscription on the entrance reads ‘Nos Ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos’ meaning, ‘the bones that are here are waiting for yours’.
After that sobering thought I decided to head east to Monsaraz and this hilltop gem did not disappoint.
Anna enjoys a glass of wine at the end of the day
Sitting high up on a hill, Monsaraz is a walled medieval village, one of the oldest in Portugal.
It has old stone walls, a beautiful castle, and stunning views over the Alentejo plains, the Alqueva lake and the and the Spanish frontier and is the perfect spot to absorb the beauty of this region.
The village is filled with narrow cobbled streets, whitewashed houses and has such a tranquil vibe. It is still mostly undiscovered by tourists, which makes it even more special and is definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in Portugal and a must-visit if you’re looking for something unique.
Finally, I headed south to finish up my trip in one of the most famous cities of Alentejo, the capital, Beja, where I stayed in the new Holiday Inn.
Anna at the remains of Roman Villa at Pisões
Having only opened in September of this year, this brand new hotel is the perfect place to stay and is only a four-minute walk away from the nearby impressive 13th century castle.
To the side of the castle sits Ti Bia Gadelha which is a communal village oven where locals can bring their own bread dough to bake. What a beautiful local tradition!
Incredibly, the oven needs to stay lit constantly. If the flame burns out it takes three times more wood to heat up again, so they just bake bread all day every day. They also host bread making workshops here which are great craic.
If you head 10km west of Beja, you can find the partially excavated remains of a Roman countryside villa in Pisões which is also well worth a visit.
The remains were actually found by accident in 1967 and the villa dates back to the 1st-4th century and is thought to have had 40 rooms.
The distinctive mosaic flooring is exposed and unprotected so anyone can just walk up to view them. Without a cover or a way to protect them from weather and people, these remains are at risk of eroding away, so visit them while you can!
Anna got to make fresh bread in Ti Bia Gadelha
The Alentejo region is known for having many wineries and vineyards that produce excellent, high-quality wines, so when you travel this far it would be wrong to not dabble.
I was lucky enough to visit a huge variety of different wineries and vineyards throughout my trip. I also got to learn a thing or two!
I started with a very traditional winery called Gerações da Talha which dates back to the 18th century where the art of wine making has been masterfully passed down through generations.
The wine here is made in large clay pits known as a talha. It is a unique product that is part of the Alentejo wine culture and originates from a winemaking process that was brought her by the Romans.
After fermenting, the solid parts of the grape fall off and form ‘the mother’, where the wine ages for a few months. They had a wine, Natalha 2022 – Clarete Mix, which was made of 90pc white and 10pc red grape varieties which tasted incredible.
The next winery I visited was more of a family-run winery called Herdade do Sobroso, owned by the lovely Sofia and Filipe Machado.
Anna in the winery
Sitting on almost 4,000 acres of land, this charming oasis was a converted old ruin that is now a gorgeous country-house-style hotel with 11 rooms. I spent a few hours here and the intimate hotel surrounded by the extensive vineyards made me feel like part of Sofia and Filipe’s family. Not only does their wine taste great, but they also sell other homemade edible goods here too — the tomato and cinnamon jam was chef’s kiss.
Then I visited Herdade Malhadinha Nova, a more upmarket winery with a Michelin restaurant that has Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis and Range Rovers parked outside.
The estate has multiple villas to rent, complete with infinity pools, quad bikes for hire and a delightful spa. I was lucky enough to eat in the Michelin restaurant and sample one of their own branded wines with each course. The Malhadinha Late Harvest 2020 was an incredible dessert wine with flavours such as ‘intense ripe apricot, crystallised orange skin and a touch of ginger’.
The final stop on our tour was an eco-friendly, self-sufficient and sustainable winery called Herdade da Mingorra.
They have over 300 acres of vineyards, 500 acres of irrigated olive groves and 500 acres of intensively cultivated almond groves with roughly 2,000 additional acres used for more traditional farming and forestry. My favourite was their 2020 Mingorra Red Reserva. It was lovely, fruity and light for a red wine.
To wrap up the trip, I decided to head along to the annual wine fair Vinipax in Beja where the wine world converged to offer wine experts and wine wannabes the chance to learn even more and, if you can take it, try some wines I hadn’t tasted yet on this incredible trip.
Upon arrival to the fair you are given a wine glass that you can wear around your neck and you have the freedom to roam around and try any wines that you want. It was total bliss.
FACTFILE: ALENTEJO, PORTUGAL
■ Anna was a guest of the Portuguese Tourist Board and stayed in three separate hotels: The Noble House, Serpa Hotel and the Holiday Inn (Beja). ■ The vineyards she visited are Gerações da Talha, Herdade do Sobroso, Herdade Malhadinha Nova and Herdade da Mingorra. ■ Aer Lingus and Ryanair fly into Faro, Lisbon and Porto regularly each week.