So Where are We, and Why are We There?
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| Portugal |
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| Serpa |
This year our chosen destination was the small city of Serpa, the population centre of a municipality of the same name which lies
between the Spanish border and the regional capital of Beja (visited 2018). Many readers may
never have heard of Serpa, but Serpa cheese is one of only a dozen or so Portuguese
cheeses with Protected Designation of Origen status, and for a committed
turophile, that is reason enough to visit.
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| Southern Portugal Serpa can be found half way between the regional capital of Beja and the Spanish Border |
As ever, we landed at Faro Airport and once through the formalities and equipped with a hire car we joined the A22 Motorway
(Autoestrada/Freeway etc) heading east. After 50km, just before the Spanish
border, we turned towards Serpa, 80km north as the crow flies. We followed the
main road for much of the journey, but eventually that veers off towards Beja
and we took a more rural route to our destination.
Serpa: The Basics
The Municipality of Serpa covers 1,000km² but has a population of only 13,000 at the 2021 census, an 18% decrease in 20 years.
The City of Serpa has 6,000 inhabitants, maybe more a small town than a city, you might think, but city status was granted in 2003. Many modestly sized Portuguese towns have become cities in recent decades, the criteria for the upgrade are deliberately
vague and allow plenty of wiggle room. The intention is to boost the local
economy and self-confidence, though city status means little more than a change
of letter head.
The area is largely agricultural, and although Portuguese farms were slow to mechanise in the middle of the last century, they have been busy
catching up, with the inevitable decline in agricultural employment. On the
plus side Serpa is two hours’ drive from Lisbon and is a popular location for
well-off urbanites' second homes.
During our time in Serpa we found it was a city of layers, like an onion, so instead of going through our stay in chronological order, I intend to peel Serpa, removing the newer layers one by one until we find evidence of Roman occupation.
Peeling the Serpa Onion: (1) Surroundings
My clever analogy almost falls apart at the start. No-one peels an onion by first examining the soil around it, but cities and onions
are products of the soil, so it important to look around.
Like most old settlements Serpa is on a high point, which was useful for photographing the surroundings. Serpa sits towards the
eastern edge of the vast Alentejo plain, the bread basket of
Portugal throughout recorded history. The land is beginning to change here, but wheat
grows to the north and west, and like every other Alentejo town, Serpa has its
grain silos.
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| Serpa grain silo, with Beja on the horizon on left |
On the next major rise it is possible to make out the white buildings of Beja, some 25km northwest.
Looking south and west the crops being to change, with the muted green of olive trees and the brighter green of oranges replacing the cereals.
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| Olives, oranges and distant vines, serpa |
On the gentle slopes beyond are the vineyards of the Encostas de Serpa, not (yet) a protected name, the wine is designated Vinho
Regional Alentejano, but the use of the name suggest ambition.
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| Encostas de Serpa Syrah A soft, fruity wine for convivial swilling |
(2) The Onion Skin and First Layer
The skin of the onion is made up of the N260 which by-passes Serpa on the east and north side and the Circular Interna da Serpa
which, despite being named ‘Interna,’ largely follows the edge of the built up area to
the south and west.
Lining the Circular Interna are schools, the stadium of Serpa Football Club, two supermarkets (Intermarché and Lidl), an open-air 50m
swimming pool and a couple of factories. On the N260 there is a car wash.
The first layer is fatter and juicier on the
southern/western side. It includes a modern municipal market. We reached Serpa
too late for the market on our first day, but took the opportunity to rehydrate
at the café.
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| Rehydrating at the municipal market, Serpa |
Serpa Cheese
One room is dedicated to a display about Serpa cheese. There is little see, but plenty to read, so here is the essential information:
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| Serpa cheese information room, municipal market |
Like most Alentejo cheeses, Serpa is made from unpasteurised sheep’s milk, curdled using an extract from the cardoon thistle. It is a semi
soft cheese (amanteigado (lit: buttery) in Portuguese) with a pronounced tang.
For more see TheAlentejo: Eating and Drinking 2024.
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| Queijo de Serpa |
Jardim Abade Correia de Serra
A short walk away is the Jardim Abade Correia de Serra, a pleasant garden opened in 2017 with winding paths, shady trees, a pond or two….
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| Jardim Abade Correia de Serra, Serpa |
…and a surprise cactus grove.
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| Cactus, Jardim Abade Correia de Serra, Serpa |
It is a good place to sit in the shade, switch on ‘Merlin*’ and find out what birds it hears. Many are familiar, but it in Serpa I logged
my first Green Sandpiper (they can be found, in the UK, but not by me – yet), Short-toed
Treecreeper and Spotless Starling.
(3) Outside the Walls
The ancient olive trees opposite the garden’s entrance hint that we are on the edge of an older layer of town. Amongst the olives is a statue
of José Francisco Correia de Serra for whom the garden is named. Born in Serpa
in 1750, he was a scientist, diplomat and polymath. He made important
contributions both to botany and geology, played a crucial role in the creation
of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, and served as a diplomat in the United
States, 1816-20.
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| José Francisco Correia da Serra |
Some parts of this layer are characterised by small squares with roads branching off at all angles. We stayed at the charming Hotel
Beatriz in one such square, Largo San Salvador. Small and family run (I think) the interior was bright,
modern, spotlessly clean and comfortable. I have borrowed a
photo from their website as I failed to take one myself….
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| Hotel Beatriz, Serpa |
…but I do have a nighttime photo of the church across the square.
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| San Salvador |
Finding the hotel was a problem, partly because the satnav misplaced it slightly (corrected now), but more because the road arrangements are not satnav
friendly. ‘In 50m turn half-right’ sounds straightforward but when you get there
and survey the collection of roads and tiny passages, you wonder ‘which is half-right?
We failed twice, the road system spitting us out onto the Circular Interna.
Elsewhere in this layer we encountered long, straight roads like the Rua dos Lagares (Street of Wine Presses), where orange trees
shaded the pavement…
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| Rua dos Lagares |
…and dogs watching from balconies.
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| Dog on a balcony, Rua dos Lagares |
While roads off to the right seemed to narrow once they had passed through an arch. We were clearly walking along the boundary of
a, walled city.
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| Street into the walled city from Rua dos Lagares |
The Aqueduct
The wall turn turns right at the end of Rua dos Lagares, and behind one of Serpa’s fine old olive trees, suddenly turns into an aqueduct.
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| Lynne, an olive tree and the Serpa aqueduct |
Above a spring on the street corner, a pump once lifted water up to aqueduct height…
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| The pump, Serpa aqueduct |
…and fed it across a series of arches and past two towers….
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| Through two towers |
….and into the Palácio dos Condes de Ficalho (Palace of the Counts of Ficalho).
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| Serpa Aqueduct enters the palace |
Sources agree the wall is 11th century, some say the aqueduct is, too – but that seems unlikely. The authoritative looking Structurae dates the construction to 1690 which looks right.
Most aqueducts, the Evora aqueduct being the closest, bring water from a distant source into a city for the benefit of all. This expensive and ostentation stonework built by the Melho family, later Counts of Ficalhio, brings water 200m
from a spring to their own house. I would like to think it was, at least a ‘workfare’
project, but I can find no information on the matter.
(4) Within the Walls
Inside the walls is an unreliable grid of narrow streets, many pedestrians only.
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| Serpa: inside the walls |
Most wandering will arrive at the central square, home to the Camara Municipal and the Restaurant O Alentejano where we dined twice – once on purpose and once
because nowhere else was open.
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| Serpa Camara Municipal |
Our third evening meal (at Molhó Bico) was nearby so many of my photos were taken in the dark. Our Serpa dinners are discussed in The Alentejo: Eating and Drinking.
There are places where wandering narrow alleys late at night is asking for trouble. Serpa, its streets bathed in sodium yellow light, seems
almost misty, but utterly benign.
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| Elderly local lady on a mission, Serpa |
Mario Beirão
On a (daylight) wall we found a poem by Beja-born Mario Beirão.
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| Poem on a wall, Serpa |
My improvement(?) of Google Translate's version reads:
Oh, I do not know how to pronounce the wonder
That bewitches Serpa at night when round
Her walls the past and a choir in waves
Foam and crash at the gates of Seville
Perhaps some punctuation would help in line 3, and the reference to the gates of Seville is beyond me. I lack context and knowledge of
Portuguese colloquialisms. Help, anyone?
Beirão (1890-1965)
was a neo-Romantic poet. Although highly regarded by some, he was a supporter of the
tyrant António de Oliveira Salazar whose Estado Novo held back Portuguese
development from 1932-74.
Museu de Relógio
Two small blocks from the Camara Municipal is the Museu de Relógio, the Museum of Timepieces (Relógio means both clock and watch.)
António Tavares d'Almeida (1933-2021) collected clocks and watches throughout his life. Part of his collection is in the Museum of Time
in Évora, but most of it is in Serpa where 3,000 exhibits fill ten rooms of a
16th century nunnery.
There are inexpensive watches….
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| Inexpensive watches, Serpa Museum |
….and more expensive watches.
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| Seikos can cost £2,000+ |
I know little about expensive watches, I cannot imagine why someone should pay £30,000 for a wristwatch, which is seen by few,
recognised by even fewer and needs to be insured. I wear a cheap Casio, which
keeps perfect time for a couple of years (what more do I want a watch to do?),
then the strap breaks and I buy another. I aspire to nothing
more - except repairable straps.
There are long case clocks and cuckoo clocks,…
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| Long Case clocks and cuckoo clocks, Serpa |
…wall clocks, mantlepiece clocks and more.
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| Wall clocks and mantlepiece clocks, Serpa |
Being in a room full of clocks when they all strike the hour, starting at different times and chiming with different notes and tempos, is a delight – though not one I would
enjoy 24 times a day.
Approaching the Castle
Most of the area within the walls lies below the surrounding city, but just north of the central square a set of stone steps takes you to higher ground. Near the bottom of the steps we paused for coffee at a tiny café - two tables outside, two more inside. Here a café con leite - a traditional Portuguese coffee close(ish) to a cappuccino, though less frothy, rather stronger and much smaller than the travesty of the Italian original sold in swimming pool sized cups throughout the UK and North America - costs 0.70€ (that is £0.60, or $0.80). The touristy Algarve is rather more expensive.
Coffee break Digression over, we continue up the steps past the clocktower…
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| The Clocktower |
…to a small square dominated by the Parish Church of Santa Maria.
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| Santa Maria, Serpa |
Down the side of the church a narrow lane gives access to the innermost layer of the onion….
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| To Serpa Castle |
(5) The Castle
As the previous photo shows, a portion of the keep has fallen over the entrance.
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| Fallen keep, Serpa Castle |
There was a Roman fort on this site, but most existing walls were constructed by the Moors. Serpa is 20km from the Spanish border,
so it is hardly surprising the castle was once garrisoned by Castilian
forces and the city’s first Foral (charter) was granted by the King Alfonso X
of Castille in 1281.
Despite the Christian kingdoms being in alliance against the Moors, they were not above taking a swipe at each other. By the time the
Reconquista was completed in Portugal, Serpa was in Portuguese hands and a new
Foral was issued by King Diniz of Portugal in 1295.
The castle was strengthened and enlarged, but saw little military action for the next 400 years. It remained largely unchanged, tall stone walls with a keep and tower or two, surrounding a square courtyard.
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| Serpa Castle from the top of the remaining tower |
In 1701 Charles II of Spain died without an heir. There were two claimants and the European powers lined up behind one or the other and
went to war. Portugal tried to remain neutral, but geography was against them.
In 1703 they were persuaded to join with the Grand Alliance of the Holy Roman Empire,
Great Britain and the Durch Republic. The Alentejo became something of a
battleground and an engagement in 1707 resulted in the semi-demolition of Serpa’s
keep. It has not been repaired, the time of castles had passed and it was quite safe as it was.
There is little to see but you can climb he tower and walk most of the way round the walls.
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| Walking round the walls |
Several views beyond the city were used in Part (1), but there are also good views of the aqueduct….
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| The aqueduct |
…and the church and clocktower.
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| Clocktower and Parish Church |
At the start I promised to peel Serpa starting with the modern town and ending with evidence of Roman occupation. And that is what
we have reached.
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| Decorative Roman frieze, Serpa Castle |
On display in the castle courtyard are seeral pieces of stonework and a decorative frieze from a Roman villa in the nearby village of Brinches.
And Finally…
…we arrive at the end of this post. Serpa is a tiny city, it is also a quiet city – it has little to attract a party animal or adrenalin junkie; but for people who take pleasure in the understated grandeur of rural Portugal, Serpa is a gem. And a fine cheese, to boot.
*The Merlin ap is produced by Cornell University and is a free download. Download a bird database for where you are - in this case the Iberian Peninsula - and the ap will record and identify the birds you hear. You can report your findings, and the ap keeps a 'life list' of the birds you have heard,
Évora (2016)
Mértola and Alcoutim: Strongholds by the Guadiana River (2017) - also under Algarve
Beja, Capital of Baixo Alentejo(2018)
Castro Verde (1): Surrounding Villages (2022)
Castro Verde (2): Castro Verde and Ourique (2022)
Serpa (2023)
The Alentejo, Eating and Drinking (2024)
