The music of magnificent Marvao
LIKE most Irish tourists, most of my holidays in Portugal have been spent lazing by a pool somewhere in the Algarve. It’s true that I have managed to make a few excursions north to the wonderful city of Lisbon — but this was the first time I had ever visited the Alentejo region of the country.
The Alentejo is also north of the Algarve, and its typical landscape is one of wide plains, rolling hills and medieval towns perched on high mountain tops. The entire area is worth visiting but we had come to attend an international music festival in the walled village of Marvao, a place about 200kms east of Lisbon, close to the Spanish border.
Marvao is a picturesque village, with steep cobbled streets, and rows of whitewashed houses. Its charms captivated the New York Times who recently included it in their 1,000 Places To See Before You Die
Although its total population is less than 500, this year the village hosted 42 concerts that featured the work of 65 different composers.
The festival was founded in 2014 by the acclaimed German maestro, Christophe Poppen. It also brought more than 600 musicians and thousands of spectators to the summit of one of the highest mountains in Portugal.
On our first evening, we attended a gala opening in the village square where a cocktail reception allowed us to enjoy panoramic views of the countryside that stretched out below us. After some welcoming speeches, we moved a little further up the mountain to the courtyard of the imposing Castelo de Marvao, where that night’s performances were scheduled to take place.
The evening’s entertainment began with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra performing the Overture to Mozart’s delightful opera La Clemenza di Tito. That was followed by another piece from Mozart. This one was written for the French horn, and the soloist was Felix Klieser.
What made this a truly exceptional performance was that Klieser was born without any arms, and had learned to play the horn with one of his feet. After the interval, there was another wonderful performance — this time from a young cellist called Aurelian Pascal who played Schumann’s Concerto Opus 129.
‘The Alentejo is a heart-stoppingly beautiful region’
Although he is still in his early 20s, Pascal has already established himself as a rising star in the stratosphere of classical music. On this occasion, he provided a display of dazzling virtuosity that captivated his audience.
We just had time for a quick meal, before we were able to witness a further virtuoso display from another rising star. Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang played two pieces by Bach.
The vaunted ceiling of the huge cellar in which she performed provided a superb acoustic setting, and the dramatic lighting added to the sense of an intense theatrical experience.
It was well after midnight before we arrived back at our hotel, the Estalagem de Marvao. It’s located on the plain that lies directly below the castle, and the hotel building dates from the mid-18th Century. The owners have preserved many of its original features, but the hotel also boasts its fair share of modern facilities — including air conditioning — and I slept soundly.
The next morning, we enjoyed a rich buffet breakfast that featured regional products before heading back up the mountain to attend a recital of chamber music in the Igreja de Sao Tiago.
‘This region is not yet on the tourist trails — so go now and beat the crowds’
This small church dates from the 14th Century, and might seem an unlikely venue to stage modernist and atonal works by Bartok and Schoenberg. Nonetheless, the pews were full, and the performers were greeted with great enthusiasm.
Afterwards, we found refuge from the hot sun on a shaded terrace. I have always considered port as the sort of digestif that is usually drunk after a substantial meal. This was my first time to sample its close cousin: white port, which is a light and refreshing spirit with underlying fruit flavours. It has been tipped as the “new gin” and is ideal as a chilled summer drink.
Later, we travelled to the nearby town of Castelo de Vide where the Cologne Orchestra performed two works by Beethoven. We returned there the next day, when we were able to explore what is usually regarded as one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the whole of Portugal. Clusters of red-roofed and whitewashed houses cling to the side of another mountain, and, once again, an impressive castle can be found at its summit.
The deputy mayor took us on a short tour of the town’s municipal buildings. I was pleased to see that pride of place was given to a large photo of the junior army officers who launched the Carnation Revolution in 1974.
These young officers chose to launch their coup against the fascist regime during the Portuguese entry to that year’s Eurovision Song Contest. They had guessed — correctly — that they would meet little opposition since most people would be glued to their television sets. After all, that was the year that Abba won with Waterloo. (The Portuguese entry came joint last in the contest.)
Castelo de Vide includes a small synagogue, dating from the 15th Century, which is believed to be the oldest in Europe. Jews had fled to Portugal to escape the unwelcome attentions of the Spanish Inquisition. However, they still endured religious persecution in Portugal, and many were forced to convert to Christianity: a powerful reminder that Europe’s shameful history of anti-Semitism did not begin (or end) with Nazi Germany.
This part of Portugal has not yet developed an extensive tourist infrastructure, and most of the restaurants we visited offered wholesome but rather basic menus.
An exception was the Dom Joaquim — a Michelin-starred restaurant in the small town of Evora. Its menu features traditional Portuguese food, and its cuisine is of the highest quality. It is presented in a smart contemporary setting, with some striking modern artwork on the bare stone walls.
I enjoyed some succulent pork, served in a delicious mushroom sauce, accompanied with a bottle of Herdade Dos Grous. This is an award-winning local wine, the earthy flavours of which perfectly complemented the meal — and which I am delighted to see is now available in Ireland.
Later, we made our way to the nearby Chapel of Bones. This was built by Franciscan monks in the late 17th Century. As its name suggests, the chapel is filled with real human bones, and thousands of skulls, femurs, and even entire skeletons hang from its walls. It seems that dozens of local cemeteries had been cleared, and the Franciscans decided to offer the displaced bones a new resting place. The result is certainly a remarkable chapel, but it is not, perhaps, for the faint-hearted.
This region is not yet on the mainstream tourist trail, but there are ambitious plans for its future. Alentejo is not likely to rival the Algarve for many years — but there is clear evidence that a new tourist industry is already under construction; Castelo de Vida’s first five-star hotel will open its doors next year.
The Alentejo is a heart-stoppingly beautiful region of Portugal, with so much to commend it. Next time you think of Portugal, you know where to go.