The Alto Alentejo 1


	THE ALTO ALENTEJO



	VISITORS Bob & Chris Lapworth DURATION Fourteen days (November 2009) TOW VEHICLE Toyota Camry 2.2i Estate CARAVAN Bailey Senator Vermont We had taken our caravan to the Algarve twice before but, this time, we wanted to discover the REAL Portugal. The Alentejo is the Region bounded by the Algarve border to the south and the River Tagus (Rio Tejo) to the north. It takes up nearly a third of Portugal and yet is home to only around 5% of the population. It offers vast rolling plains, fortified hilltop towns, megaliths, marble, good wine and, above all, peace and tranquility. The Alentejo’s towns and villages are thinly spread and the Region sub-divides into the Baixa (Lower) and Alto (Upper) Alentejo. We chose the latter because it has so much to offer to history junkies like ourselves.

Praça do Giraldo - Évora’s lively main square.


	ROMAN TEMPLE

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Believed to have been erected in the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD the Templo Romano is the best preserved Roman ruin in Portugal and stands right at the heart of the old city.

It is thought to have been for worshipping Jupiter, the king and ruler of the Olympian gods, although local people believe it to be a temple to Diana, the virginal Roman goddess of the hunt and the moon.

The imposing remains comprise a raised platform supporting fourteen granite columns with superbly preserved marble

Corinthian capitals surmounted by a marble entablature.

After dark, the Templo Romano takes on a dramatic appearance as floodlights highlight its silhouette against the night sky.

Over the years the Templo Romano has been put to several different uses including a theatre and an armoury. During the Inquisition it was used as an execution ground and, leading up to its eventual rescue in 1870, it was a slaughter-house.

Our destination was the enchanting walled city of Évora - one of very few sizeable towns in the whole of the Alentejo. The Camping & Caravanning Club’s Carefree Travel Service arranged our Plymouth to Santander crossing and we drove due south to Madrid where we stayed for a couple of nights. Then we headed south-west to Badajoz and over the border into Portugal’s Alto Alentejo.

Right at the Alentejo’s centre, Évora is the ideal base from which to explore this beautiful and varied Region. It is a historical gem of a city shaped by its Roman and Moorish occupations and recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Romans conquered the town of Ebora from the Lusitanians in 59BC and turned it into a walled town and a military station which grew in importance within Roman Iberia. With an Empire to feed, they regarded the land ‘beyond the Rio Tejo’ - Alum Tejo - in high esteem for its wheat growing potential and introduced irrigation techniques. They called their newly-conquered town Ebora Cerealis because of its surrounding vast plains of wheat.

Moorish Occupation

When Rome fell, the town’s fortunes declined, but were revived during four centuries of Moorish occupation starting in the year 715. The Moors called the town Yeborah and it developed into an agricultural centre with a fortress and mosque. The long Moorish occupation is still evident from the characteristic web of narrow alleys flanked by whitewashed houses.