The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Rural Portugal reveals its treasures
A new tour offers boutique stays in hand-picked castles, convents and monasteries rescued from ruin 70 years ago, says John Wilmott
The monks never enjoyed this, I thought, as I swam a few lengths of the pool in the garden of their 14th-century monastery. Nor did the knight, who founded the holy order for which this impressive structure was the headquarters, benefit from a massage in the spa after a busy day defending his territory.
The monks did drink in the same vaulted refectory that is now a lounge-bar, though their rough wine has been replaced by smooth vintages from the surrounding Alentejo region.
Listed as a National Monument since 1910, the monastery is now a luxury hotel that is part of the Pousadas of Portugal, a chain of 34 historic buildings rescued from potential ruin 70 years ago and turned into rentable accommodation by the Portuguese government.
The Pousada do Crato is one of four included on a new 11-day tour by Mercury Holidays designed to showcase both the splendour and variety of these upscale hostelries and their surrounding regions.
With most tourists to Portugal heading either for the sunny beaches of the Algarve or the city-break sights of Lisbon, this was my chance to discover aspects of the country that surprisingly few visitors get to see.
Our small group of 14 guests had begun the tour south of Lisbon in a former convent sharing a crag with a castle, though most future guests on this tour will start by staying in the Royal Guard’s quarters beside the 18th-century National Palace of Queluz, an elaborate former royal residence close to the capital.
After a well-paced and comprehensive foray into Lisbon – the only nod to mainstream tourism on the trip – we set off in our mini-coach deep into the Alentejo region, through a gently crumpled landscape that became more forested and rugged as we neared the frontier with Spain. Sprinkled with wildflowers – lavender, poppies, yellow daisies – and indolent cattle, it seemed a long way from Portugal’s more familiar terrain of golf courses and holiday apartments.
We could see the tall stone walls of the Pousada do Crato from a mile away and minutes later were walking through the grand arch and beneath the columns of the haunting cloister to check in. Soon I was admiring its stern Gothic tower and later Renaissance touches from my lounger by the pool.
Olga, our guide, was waiting the next morning to take us to a couple of castellated hill villages that are typical of the upper Alentejo. We had already witnessed the sleepiness of the hamlet adjacent to our hotel and Olga explained that the rest of Portugal calls this remote corner the “slow country”, in mockery not just of the creeping pace of life but of its laid-back people.
She related an ancient joke: if a local wants to hang himself, he’ll put the rope around a sapling and wait for the tree to grow. Climbing a tree to hoist himself aloft is far too much effort.
Yet for thousands of years the inhabitants have been staggeringly productive. Dolmens and rings of standing stones – one predating Stonehenge – formed from the region’s copious granite are striking evidence of a thriving neolithic civilisation.
These days, Olga told us, the land is still harvested in numerous ways. Cork oak trees not only produce wine-bottle stoppers but also provide the raw material for a bounty of other products, including Olga’s stylish handbag. Holm oaks drop the acorns that are food for the coveted black pigs that yield roasting joints and cured hams. Chestnuts and pine nuts end up in local recipes. The tasty rustic bread I’d had for breakfast comes from the pockets of wheat. Wildflowers are used for condiments, herbal teas and medicines.
Petals also played a pretty role at our first stop, Castelo de Vide, where in the Jewish quarter beneath the fortress residents traditionally line their stepped alleyways with dozens of potted plants. Here we learn why the window frames of the whitewashed houses are nearly always painted a dark yellow; insects are attracted to the lighter surfaces, so swerve away from the openings. And the plastic bottles of water on doorsteps? Dogs are spooked by their own reflections, so do their business elsewhere.
At nearby Marvão, Olga led us through a sprawling castle that played a major role in several battles between the 13th and the 19th centuries, with views across to Spain to the east. We had been able to spy this fortress from the tower of its counterpart in Castelo de Vide, something our guide explained had far more significance than we realised.
Castles in this area and beyond were built within sight of each other so that, if one was attacked, its soldiers could light a fire to alert their neighbours. Through the network of hilltop blazes, a warning could be sent to Lisbon in about 90 minutes – far faster then one could drive the journey today.
Next we crossed central Portugal, through bumpy hills and more enormous slabs and boulders of granite which provided the building blocks for many of the country’s ancient buildings as well as those