Alentejo - Portugals Hinterland

When most people think of Portugal, they think of the Algarve, Lisbon and Porto because these are the most popular destinations.

As a dog owner, I have a different view on this, because city trips are only possible if we can take the dogs with us, or, more simply for Nerone, leave them in the car. City tours are not necessarily an option in this case.

We were looking for secluded tours and beautiful areas, and ended up near Regenguos de Monsaraz in the Évora region. Our campsite is almost on a reservoir and only a few kilometers from the Spanish border. In Carrapatelo we are learning to relax, because the Algarve with its lively cities and well-visited beaches and rock formations was very beautiful, but also a little exhausting.

Here we have peace and quiet and the time to do other things! The first thing Christian always says is that it is so far away and yet so beautiful. The cultural landscape is characterized by cork oaks, olive trees, pastures and huge stones in the middle. There are also orange plantations, olive plantations and, because of the gentle hills, also wine, which we have not yet tasted.

In spring it is incredibly green here, it has rained a lot in the last few weeks, but the green has surprised us again. Even our trip to Loja to see Rosi did not take us through as much green landscape as we see here in the Alentejo. Portugal itself seems very green and lush to us at the moment, but we do not know the landscape in midsummer, so I really have no comparison.

The area here is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in Europe; only Brittany and the Outer Hebrides have similar finds from the Stone Age, which archaeologists say date from around the same time. There is a lot of history to see here!

Yesterday we were at the castle in Monsaraz, but first we took a walk to the first megaliths in this area, which had to be moved because of the reservoir.

Today, thanks to the rainy morning, we were out and about archaeologically again. We first went to Évora, where we explored the remains of a Roman temple, then we went to see Neolithic stone formations, which according to the information board are around 1000 to 1500 years older than Stonehenge or Avebury, so they date back to around the same time as the pyramids of Giza. It was crazy!

The trip to the Cromeleque dos Almendres was an adventure in itself, as a small sign warned that the route to the stones was not exactly for the faint-hearted, and was so badly damaged that it might be better to go on foot. I didn't really want to do that, because anyone who has mastered Moroccan roads, tracks, etc. can manage it too. No sooner said than done, we landed without touching down, but unfortunately we could only admire the beautiful stone circle from the outside. Too many tourists, the bad weather and the weight of the stones almost caused the Stone Age monument to slide some time ago, which is why it is no longer accessible. The photos are great nonetheless, it reminded me of Barpa Langas on North Uist, the period in which it was built is roughly the same.

The menhir was beautiful, but we had hoped for more, so Christian guided me to another monument, where we tested the off-road capabilities of our van again on the way through insanely large puddles, only to then meet a man from Rosenheim who had just put his Ford through the same suitability test. The Anta Grande do Zambujeiro dolmen grave was gigantic!

We walked around the monument and took lots of photos because we were able to take the dogs with us.

I really like it here, it's not as crowded as the Algarve, and when you go hiking here you hardly see any other hikers, which I like! The storks aren't circling as much as they are in Silves when the thermals are good, but there are still a lot of them here. Today I heard a cuckoo!