Countryside love
A few weekends ago, we took off for the countryside. It was evening and the sun was turning the sky pink (this was before the weeks of rain!). I felt so excited to leave Lisbon for what was such an easy, 90-minute trip to one of our favorite regions: Alentejo. This region is known as the bread basket of Portugal, the hottest of the regions, and where people move the slowest (smile). They claim it's because of the heat; nonetheless, it makes for a very relaxing get-away location, and we are finding there's so much to discover in this one region alone. Since living here, we have done numerous weekend trips in this area with the kids, discovering different villages, beach areas, doing farm stays, having beautiful early nights all together, and always eating really, really well.
Our first get-away was to Grandola. We stayed at a rural sheep and cork farm: Monte das Faias. Our room was on the back side by the gate to the sheep pasture, and we woke up to the muted sound of sheep and their bells. The owner is also the general manager, concierge, waiter, and bar man. On this trip we also discovered the Comporta beaches, which is an area we have returned to a handful of times.
Our second away weekend was to the Setubal region...not quite yet in Alentejo. We stayed at Casa Palmela, an estate dating to the sixteenth century, now turned boutique wine hotel with 70 acres of hiking trails, pastures, and vineyards. Palmela is near the village of Azeitao, known for really delicious, soft cheese, cinnamon cookies, and Portuguese tiles. And wine. Here we also discovered the Galapos beach in the national park of Arrabida, which has also become one of our favorite day trips (and secluded beach with amazing, super fresh fish grilled to perfection right on the beach)! This was the first time we realized how enjoyable it is to go to the beach in the winter.
On another trip with my aunt Ann and uncle Ed, we went back to Palmela and stayed at a Pousada, a traditional Portuguese guest house/hotel. This one was a cloistered monastery and castle: Pousada Castelo Palmela.
Junior and I also took advantage of the amazing babysitter we had last year to do our first overnight outside of Lisbon. We used a Christmas gift certificate from my dad to Sublime Comporta, a boutique hotel near the Comporta beaches. Here you find rice paddies, cork and umbrella pine trees, (a lot of French people) and, of course, great wine and food.
When my best friend, Leah, visited, we took off to a very similar area in Alentejo, just a bit further down the beach in a rural area called Melides. Here we stayed on a sheep and organic blueberry farm: Uva do Monte.
And finally, most recently we went to Évora, a city that was conquered by the Romans in 57 BC and made into the walled city that it still is today. Unfortunately we were there when both of our kids had fevers, and so we didn't do any historical sight-seeing, but rather stayed outside of the walled city on, yes, another sheep and cork farm: Ecork Hotel. We did make it to a restaurant within the walled city that was recommended by somebody I horseback ride with, and it was a great exercise in our children sitting at the table for a nearly 2-hour lunch! And anyhow, being just 90 minutes away, there's no reason we can't go back to explore again when the kids are healthy!
