Roman Lamps, a Windmill and an Almost Vanished Castle
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| Portugal |
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| Castro V. Parish |
28-Sept-2022
Castro Verde (1) ended with a lunchtime toastie after we had found the town’s two main churches tightly locked. Castro Verde (2)
starts with a couple of rather more successful visits.
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| Southern Portugal showing locations of Castro Verde, Ourique and Faro (the capital of the Algarve) Castro Verde and Ourique are approx 100 Km north of Faro |
Roman Lamp Museum
We lingered over lunch then strolled south through the narrow streets beyond the Basilica of Nossa Senhora da Conceição….
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| Past the Basilica, Castro Verde |
….until we reached the former Armazem de Produtos (warehouse) of the company of Senhor Prazeres, his brother and successors. A
smaller sign by the door informed it is now the Museu da Lucerna, the Museum of Lamps.
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| The Lamp Museum, Castro Verde |
A 1994 archaeological dig in the village of Santa Bárbara dos Padrões (we visited yesterday) unearthed, among other things, a collection of Roman era
(1st-3rd centuries CE) oil lamps.
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| A collection of other artefacts from the dig, Museum of Lamps, Castro Verde |
Many years ago, we visited a small Etruscan museum in the hills above Florence. Most of the good stuff had gone to the city or to Rome,
but they had left enough interesting artefacts to justify a small local museum - and they had also left the oil lamps. A hundred or more were on display, all simply constructed and
largely identical. I held out little hope for a museum majoring in lamps.
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| Some basic lamps, Museum of Lamps, Castro Verde |
But I was wrong, there were some
basic lamps but most on show were decorated with household gods, simple objects, scenes from everyday life….
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| Assorted decorated lamps, Castro Verde |
…animals…
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| Wolf on a lamp, Castro Verde |
…and characters and beasts from mythology. Among the best, a winged horse set amid other decorations.
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| Winged horse lamp, Castro Verde |
The South End of Town
Continuing from the museum we soon reached the southern end of the small town. The north entrance had featured a roundabout on
which sheep could safely graze, the southern end went more for snuffling pigs.
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| Pigs on a roundabout, Castro Verde |
From the roundabout there was a pleasing view back to the Basilica, though it is a shame the church is not kept open.
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| Looking back to the Basilica, Castro Verde |
The Windmill on the Largo de Feira
Beyond the roundabout is the Largo da Feira, a dusty open space used for fairs and markets, though mostly it serves as an overspill car park.
We had spotted the windmill as soon as we arrived, it is difficult to miss, but it had been closed. When we crossed the largo later
in the afternoon on our way to the just-out-of-town supermarket beyond, we
discovered it was now open.
The small pieces of pottery that can be seen attached to the ends of the spars and the connecting ropes are ocarinas, of a sort. The
sales were tethered but there was a good breeze and they generated a continuous
plaintive song, as if they wanted to be set free to turn.
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| Castro Verde windmill |
No one knows quite how old the windmill is. It was included in a sketch of the square dated 1813, but is probably much older. It
was closed in 1930 and was for a time used as a dwelling. In 2003 ownership
passed to the local government and the windmill was fully restored. The door
was open so we walked in and climbed the stairs. The internal mechanism was in
full working order and ready to grind corn as soon as the sails were released.
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| Castro Verde windmill ready to grind corn |
That happened while we were doing our shopping, and on our return the windmill was working and singing, just as it did a century ago.
Dinner
We dined at Planicie Gastronomia on Polvo à Lagareiro, octopus brushed with olive oil, and very good it was, too.
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| Polvo à Lagareiro, Castro Verde |
For more about the pleasures of the table in Alentejo, see The Alentejo: Eating and Drinking.
We strolled back to our hotel beneath a pleasing crescent moon.
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| Walking back to our hotel under a crescent moon, Castro Verde |
29-Sept-2022
Ourique
Unlike Castro Verde, which is flat, the northern end of Ourique sits on a hill rising from the surrounding plain. We left the IC1
at a sign to the castle and miradoura, following a small road that unsurprisingly
wound its way upwards. We semi-intentionally drove round the top of the hill a
couple of times attempting to orientate ourselves and find somewhere to park.
Miradouro
The Miradoura gives every impression of being built in 1915, and in 2000 was renamed the Miradoura Ramon Sobral in memory of a
president of the local council in the 1970s and 80s.
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| The Miradoura Ramon Sobral, Ourique |
It contains – or is surrounded by – a pleasant garden and has the sort of view that is mandatory for a miradouro.
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| The Plain of Ourique from the Miradouro |
Afonso I and the Battle of Ourique
It also has a more than life size statue of King Afonso I looking appropriately warlike.
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| Lynne and Afonso I |
Ourique Castle
The hilltop is
the obvious site for a castle and there is alleged to be one linked to the exploits
of Afonso I, but the earliest castle charter dates from 1290 and archaeology
suggests that King Dinis (ruled 1279-1325) built over a Roman castro that had
also been used by the Moors. Manuel I issued a new charter in 1510, but despite this
documented history we could find no castle.
The castle was abandoned, probably in the 16th century, became a ruin and was ‘tidied up’ during the construction of the
viewpoint. All that remains is one heavily restored wall.
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| All that remains of Ourique Castle |
Igreja Matriz, Parish Church
The Parish Church of Santa Maria da Misericórdia, constructed on a shelf in the hillside below the castle is, in contrast, complete. It was built
in the 18th century on the orders of King João V and inside there is, I read, much
gilded baroque woodwork. The locals seem very keen on the application of dark
blue paint to their churches, they are less keen to open them up.
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| Ourique Parish Church |
We appeared to have the hilltop largely to ourselves. Most of the modern town sits on the gentler slope on the southern side of the hill.
There we drove along a street with busy cafés and people going about their
business. I feel I need to point this out, as our photographs yesterday and
today show an almost complete absence of people (except us). This area is sparsely
populated, but we did not visit a series of ghost towns, however it might look.
The penultimate picture of this post will, I promise, prove we were not entirely alone.
Castro da Cola
Castro da Cola was next on our list of ‘things to visit in Ourique’, though we were not entirely sure what it was. Getting there
involved driving a further 10km south on the IC1 before turning right onto a
minor road. A few kilometres later we found a sign pointing up a well-maintained
if tarmac-free track
After a 100m there was a track to our left with a ‘no entry’ sign. We carried on round the base of a hill to a T-junction with the
Restaurante Castro da Cola one way and a farmyard and church the other, but no
sign of the actual castro. The restaurant was closed, so we borrowed their car
park while surveying the scene and wondering if Castro da Cola would prove as elusive
as Ourique Castle.
Driving past the farmyard and the church – a smaller version of the Ourique parish church – we found the road looped round the base
of the hill and then up across its eastern flank. There seemed to be something higher
up, so we pulled off the road to take a look.
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| Igreja de Nossa Senora da Cola |
Strolling upwards we found old walls and a sign board to help us make sense of them.
When and how this place became known as ‘Castro da Cola’ is not obvious, but we were standing in the ruins of a medieval fortified
village formerly known as Marachique.
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| Castro da Cola |
A garrison was accommodated at one end of the walled enclosure, while the dwellings of the villagers occupied the rest – and the more
we explored the more we realised how extensive the settlement had been.
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| Castro dal Cola, garrison |
Marachique was inhabited from the 10th to the 13th century, spanning the Islamic and Christian period, then it was apparently
abandoned. Archaeologists have found vestiges of occupation from both Roman and
pre-historic times so the site was occupied for many centuries, though to the
modern eye it does not look an attractive site for a village.
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| Castro da Cola, dwellings |
The Necrópole da Atalaia
Barely 2 km away as crow flies is the Necrópole da Atalaia. As necropolises go, this is not the most dramatic, but there is not
much to see round here, and finding it promised a challenge.
The Plain of Ourique, like may plains, is not actually flat. There are no real hills (the small hill on which Ourique stands being an
exception) and there are no deep valleys, but the scrub covered landscape is
creased and wrinkled. It is also criss-crossed by an extensive network of
well-maintained dirt roads.
My phone knew both the position of the necropolis and the lay-out of the dirt roads, so we bumped slowly along in our own personal dust cloud
drawing ever closer to our quarry.
Eventually Doris (all sat navs are called ‘Doris’) suggested we turn up a smaller track that looked fine for a Land Rover, but unsuitable
for a Renault Clio. I parked the Clio and we continued on foot.
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| I turned the Clio and parked beside the unsuitable track |
We had only a few hundred metres to go, but the necropolis was not actually on the track, the sat nav positioning was imprecise
and we already knew that it was signed only if you approach from the
north. We came from the south, and after marching about the right distance and wandering
around in the scrub for a while, we admitted defeat.
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| Lynne striding forth confidently to failure |
It was no great disaster; I had already seen the pictures. The best available is on TripAdvisor, so if you want to see it, click
here and prepare to be underwhelmed.
An Italian Dinner
We did little of interest in the afternoon. This area has a dry climate, the summer months being largely rain free, while in an average September
they expect 24 mm (1 inch) of rain. Most of it fell that afternoon.
The evening was drier so we went in search of dinner. Apparently, we had struck the last week of the season and restaurants had been closing
daily. Tonight, both our Plan A and B restaurants were shut up tight, but the
Villa Itália was open and doing good business.
Along the Algarve’s holiday coast, restaurants of all styles abound, but finding an Italian restaurant (as distinct from the
ubiquitous pizzerias) in rural Portugal felt odd. There was a time when Italy
was poor, Italians emigrated and, in the UK, like the Hong Kong Chinese and Bangladeshis
who followed them, many opened restaurants. But when Italy was poor, Portugal
was poorer, this is not where they came.
The menu was Italian but the wine list was Portuguese and we ordered a bottle of Entradas, an Alentejano Vinho Regional with a Great
Bustard on the label. We visited Entradas yesterday; the village produces wheat
and olives, but we saw no grapes. The name is unprotected so the wine - good rusric stuff - could
have been made almost anywhere in Alentejo.
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| Entradas wine, Villa Itália, Castro Verde (and a picture with other people in it!) |
Lynne chose pizza, I went for gnocchi which was flavourful and comforting.
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| Gnocchi, Villa Itália, Castro Verde |
30-Sept-2022
We headed south to the sun, sand and sangria of the Algarve.
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)
