The Alto Alentejo 7


	VILA VIÇOSA & THE BRAGANÇAS

	Alfonso, the illegitimate son of King João l, was created the first Duke of Bragança in 1442 and the Bragança dynasty adopted a carved knot symbol as its emblem. It was the fourth duke, Dom Jaime, who begun work on the Ducal Palace at Vila Viçosa in 1501 and this was added to over the next two centuries. Then in 1640 João ll, the eighth Duke, reluctantly became King João lV of Portugal following an uprising against Spanish rule. After this, the Braganças ruled Portugal right up until the 1910 Revolution that turned the country into a Republic. Despite owning luxurious palaces at Mafra, Sintra, Queluz and elsewhere, the Bragança kings always had a special affection for their palace at Vila Viçosa.


		The Paço Ducal of the Bragança dynasty at Vila Viçosa.

	Guided tours take in the splendid royal rooms that occupy the first floor, as well as ground floor areas including the kitchen and treasury. There’s a beautiful chapel with a coffered ceiling and other features from the 16th century. It was here that, on 3rd December 1640, the eighth Duke learned he was to become king. A highlight is the Sala dos Duques (Room of the Dukes) which has a ceiling lined with portraits of the dukes by the Italian Domenico Dupra (1689 - 1770). On the walls are Brussels tapestries depicting scenes from the life of Achilles. Outside there are gardens whose formal geometry reflects the palace’s architectural style. There’s also an impressive armoury and coach museum, but you pay extra to see these.



		A stripped cork oak numbered to indicate the year it was stripped. (Photo courtesy of www.wine-pages.com)

	Portugal is the world’s largest producer of cork and the majority comes from the Montados (cork oak forests) of the Alentejo. Alentejano cork is used for floor tiles, shuttlecocks, fishing floats, insulated food containers and much more, with the overwhelming majority being used for sealing wine bottles. The bark is stripped from the trees every 9 years by skilled men with axes as finding a successful mechanical method has proven elusive. Then they paint a number on the trunk to indicate the year the bark was stripped. This remains visible as the new bark grows under it. An average tree lives for up to 200 years, but must reach 43 years old before yielding cork of suitable quality for wine bottles. The cork forests are home to over 100 species of birds including black storks, booted and short-toed eagles, nightjars and hoopoes. There are bats and reptiles and the Iberian Lynx - the world’s rarest big cat. Cork production is very eco-friendly as no resource-intensive processes are used. The trees regenerate their bark and also offset carbon in the atmosphere by emitting oxygen by photo-synthesis. Remember this when choosing your next bottle of wine, because plastic and aluminium screw stoppers are increasingly being used and neither can claim to be so eco-friendly! Find out more about this by visiting www.wine-pages.com/features/amorim-cork.


	The Marble towns Portugal is the world’s second-largest exporter of marble and around 30 miles north-east of Évora lies and area so rich in the material that it is used extensively in hard-landscaping and building. Marble paving, street benches, kerbstones and lamp posts can commonly be found and shops and other buildings, including the most modest of houses, use the material extensively for corner stones, window reveals, door frames and exterior cladding on lower walls. Leave Évora on the N254 road and travel to the first of the three marble towns, Vila Viçosa, which has the additional attractions of a ducal palace - the last residence of the Portuguese monarchy - and a fortidfied hilltop ‘old town’. You’ll pass through Redondo - itself worth a visit - and then Bencatel, by which point the landscape is changing to more hilly terrain and the first signs of huge blocks of marble can be found stacked in roadside storage depots waiting to be sawn into slabs. Soon the first quarry comes into view. On the left as you approach Vila Viçosa, there’s a marble-paved square with water features, from which the infrequent buses commence their onward journeys. Adjacent to this is the Largo de João lV which, despite its grand name, is a large expanse of unpaved ground where you can park your car whilst looking around. From here walk along Rua de Dr. Antonio Jose de Almeida and into Praça da República - the town’s main square - with its marble paving and seating punctuated by orange trees. Venture into some of the roads surrounding the square and you’ll see marble is used extensively there, too.

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	Next, take the N255 road, driving past huge marble quarries as you go, to Borba, just 4 miles to the north-west. This is an unpretentious little town with lots of antique shops and where even the most modest of houses and shops combine whitewashed walls with white marble to dazzling effect.