Monsarez

When we arrived in Evora we had no intention to go to Monsaraz, but at the insistence of our host we did the trip anyway. It took us about an hour and half on bus through beautiful rural countryside and towns. It was difficult to get many pictures from the bus but here is one of a church in a town where all the houses were painted white with blue trim...

Monsarez was the end of the line and seeing that it is not tourist season we were the only ones to go that far being dropped off around 1:30 and picked up again at 5:30. It was a huge bus so they weren't making much money that day!

It is located at a top of a hill that you can see for miles...

It has been inhabited since Prehistoric times and has been ruled by many including the Romans and the Arabs.Deserted after the plaque of 1527 it regained importance thanks to its strategic location as an armed fortification. The battlement walls give it a Medevial aspect with a village inside that seems frozen in time.

Don entering one of the gates, there are no vehicles allowed inside the walls.

The views from the walls were gorgeous looking out over the countryside...

There are lots of vineyards and olive groves as far as we could see. The lake is manmade to provide irrigation to the area and is the largest artificial lake in Europe.

The streets here are narrow and very hilly with beautiful views around every corner...

Since it is winter here we did not see many people around, even the locals were scarce. In fact, it seemed as we had the place to ourselves. Apparently in the high season this placed is very crowded, but not today. .

There were a few shops opened with bright displays of local crafts...

 

Everyplace in this little town was spotless...

Even the curtains...

The town had a small square with the Mother church located there...

With a pillory built in the 18th century in white marble from the region.

The church was built in the 16th century to substitute for the original that had been contaminated by the plaque

We found one restaurant open with no one in it but the staff who didn't seem that happy to see us, but we managed to get something to eat. The menu was in Portuguese and no one spoke English, this is what we got...

 

Bread, cheese and olives to start and a large plate to share with tomato,lettuce, rice, fries and tasty spicy short ribs.  

It was cold on top of the hill so we kept walking and as the sun started to go down the light was amazing...

Here I am with my many layers trying to stay warm...

And Don playing, " King of the Hill"...

There were lots of plants and flowers on our walk around...

Even cacti and these spiky red flowers are everywhere we go...

Fragrant lavender...

And these purple flowers that I think grow as annuals at home...

Orange trees everywhere 

And a single rose...

As we were leaving the shadows were reflecting off the houses and stones, it was a beautiful and magical place...