Starting the first day of the year in a great adventure
On the 1st of January 2017 my hubby surprised me with a trip to the north of Alentejo and Spain, once again it succeeded my expectations - Just the start of an amazing adventure.First we headed to Marvão - We drove onto Serra do Marvão and up to the top of the hill, I look out and I was mesmerized with what was there - my favorite view ever happens to came from the top of the mountain…
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| Castelo do Marvão |
We really enjoyed this gorgeous castle in the hills adjacent to the Spanish border. Very old castle, gothic style. Was used at least since the moors 8-11th century, before being taken by Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal. Improved in 1299 by D. Dinis, played a decisive role in protecting the border from Castela and after from Spain - The castle is at high altitude and you can see everything in many kms radius - It is much larger than expected and the gardens are lovingly maintained to add to its beauty - You can walk the walls and imagine fighting off any invaders that couldn't possibly penetrate its defenses - more medieval that you can get - I felt like I was in the Lord of the rings movie - With the medieval village inside the wall all painted in white, a must to see place for sure - It ended up being a very enjoyable afternoon exploration.
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| The very narrow manmade rock paths inside the walls of the Castle leads us to impressive views |
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Its walls enclose two cisterns and a keep and offer spectacular views south and west towards the Serra de Sao Mamede and eastward to the Spanish frontier.
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Great thing The simple streets of Marvão provide a nice venue for photography with the stone buildings and cobbled paving along with a few of the "human" touches like the wooden doors giving each entrance an individuality of its own, all the details of the beautiful popular houses are precious, typical of the Alentejo. Amidst them, it is easy to find Gothic arches, Manueline windows, wrought-iron balconies and other embellishments in the nooks and crannies of the buildings made from the local granite.
The water source at the village center no longer provides the water for the inhabitants, but still can be seen as a gathering place.
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| Holly Spirit Church |
The city walls, this is what protects the village, which protects the castle, which protects the people, which protects the surrounding countryside. Walls on walls and within walls, even the walls which are outside the castle to protect the village itself are impressive in their size. Some of the exterior walls are of a double construction, very impressive!
Arid, hot, humid, rocky, not things that bring to mind green or garden, but even here at Marvão, on the rocky outcropping with its castle the people have created green havens for the eyes and nose. The manicured and cropped garden below the castle brings to mind a mini garden along the lines of those known in France, while the gardens surrounding the village center supply a green spot for relaxing from the unreleting stones and heat.
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| The silence and the views from up...it's just breathtaking |
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| A precious detail: The overlook at the medieval village of Marvão from the bottom The remains perched in the cliffs are a challenge to imagination, and a call to the memories of the hard old times. |
Hello Spain
After a long time spending at the Castle, we headed to Spain (Badajoz) for some shopping, but unfortunally everything was closed due to the New Year's day - but we stoped for a little walk at the park right at the entrance of Badajoz, Impressively it was sunny overthere but colder than Portugal. What I saw was a very old village mixed with the modern buildings and lots of shopping spots...I only took one picture because the camera battery was very low and I want to have a couple more left to shoot in the last place visited.
Hello Portugal...again...
After Spain we across the border line (Elvas) back to Portugal and my hubby decided to go visit Estremoz, also in Alentejo - this was the place where my hubby spend the Special Force cavalery years, I was impressed how amazing the town is and how lucky he was to spend a year in this historic and inspiring town.
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| Elvas (border line) |
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| Estremoz Castle witch is now the D. Isabel Queen's Hotel (the queen of Alentejo) |
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| Tower of the Three Crowns panoramic view of the town |
I would love to show you more images of this historical also medieval town, but unfortunately my battery camera was out of juice...but definitely Sofia Catita World will be back for more 😉
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Turns out that we don’t have to go far from home to reconnect with the world and all its beauty. In fact, we’ve got a pretty nice slice of it on this medieval adventure we call the lord of the rings wonderland tour! I look forward to exploring more of it.
Check more views at the Marvão Castle
Marvão Castle panoramic view (click here)
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