ALENTEJO (Portugal)

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The Alentejo area is commonly known as the "bread basket" of Portugal. A fitting title for this vast open countryside with undulating plains and rich fertile soil. With a colourful landscape, wide open roads and dazzling whitewashed villages, the great expanse of the Alentejo is considered one of the most picturesque parts of Portugal. With very few exceptions all the major towns are mainly reliant on agriculture, livestock and wood. Typical products from this area are grain, sunflower, carthame, fruit, vegetables, olives, wines, cork, eucalyptus, lamb, pigs, kid, granite, schist and marble.

Occupying nearly a third of the mainland, the region begins an hour's drive north east of Lisbon and ends at the mountains of the Algarve, rubbing up against Spain all along the way.
The Alentejo is at its loveliest in spring, when wild flowers fill the ditches and cover the fallow land. Storks build their nests on roof tops and shepherds cradle new born lambs, providing visitors with a vivid impression of the real Portugal.

For hundreds of years the region was a battlefield, first against the Moors and then against Spanish invaders. On this trampled land, crops had no time to grow beneath the feet of all those marching armies. But today it is a very fertile province, producing more than two thirds of the world's total cork supply.

At the heart of the region, the walled city of 6vora is a very good base from which to explore the many outlying towns. Standing proud as the Alentejo's largest city, it boasts a roman temple and an impressive Gothic cathedral.

Elvas, close to the Spanish frontier, is the biggest stronghold in the country. Its main attractions include a Manueline cathedral and several exquisite azulejo glazed tiles in the church of the Freiras de São Domingos. Just outside the town stands the 7 kilometre long Amoreira aqueduct. The inhabitants of nearby Estremoz have managed to preserve the quaint old upper part of their town, where a turret looms over the castle. The lower district is surrounded by fortifications, including the Gothic church of the São Francisco convent. Other places of interest in the Alentejo include the pretty towns of Portalegre, Montemor-o-Novo, Monsaraz and Mértola.