Travel - Epoch Times

10
Travel
OCTOBER 27 – NOVEMBER 2, 2011
Pousadas of Portugal: Palaces, castles, and convents
MICHAEL VARGA
BY GIANNELLA M. GARRETT
century by King Dom Dinis for
his wife, Isabel of Aragon, it’s
an extravagant tour-de-force.
We strolled through its ornate
lobby, sitting rooms, and dining area, exquisitely furnished
with antiques. A setting like
this begged for a worthy event.
Sure enough, in walked a bride
and her entourage.
A
bout 70 years ago, a
state-run initiative
to build regional
inns where travellers could enjoy local culture,
cuisine, and architecture
began in Portugal. The concept broadened a few years
later to include the recovery,
restoration, and conversion
of the country’s centuries-old,
deteriorating castles, palaces,
convents, and monasteries
into luxurious hotels.
Today there are over 40 of
these reasonably priced bed
& breakfasts, or pousadas,
throughout Portugal, managed by the Pestana Hotel
Group.
Built on the ruins of Portugal’s epic past and contemporized by renowned Portuguese
architects with a focus on
comfort and elegance, these
historic pousadas resonated
with me. Thus a mission was
born: getting to know Portugal’s south, one pousada at
a time.
Alcácer do Sal
When we arrived in the sleepy
town of Alcácer do Sal, 60
miles south of Lisbon, there
wasn’t a castle in sight. We
pulled into a curve along the
town’s main street just as a
young man sauntered out of a
restaurant toward us.
“Pousada de Dom Afonso II?”
I asked. He pointed to the steep
promontory ascending behind
the eatery. As we crested the
steep summit, the silhouette
of a scalloped wall and stone
tower backlit by a fiery setting
sun burst into view.
“You must visit the museum,”
suggested Paolo Aleixo, our
charming concierge, while
accompanying us to our
room.
The journey took a half hour,
winding through the labyrinthine cloister and courtyard,
hide-away niches, glamorous
lounges, a sprawling restaurant, and a bar. We couldn’t
refrain from ogling the sumptuous antique tapestries, contemporary furnishings, local
handcrafts, and ancient artifacts. Giant archways, expansive stairways, and multilevel
corridors echoed the dramatic
hilltop landscape we negotiated outside.
The next morning, we
ambled through the archaeological museum beneath the
pousada. An excavation displays stratified remains of the
Iron Age (7th century), Roman,
Muslim, medieval, and modern civilizations. The rice, cork,
grapes, and olives growing in
the surrounding fertile valley and nearby Atlantic coast
explain why conquerors
throughout the ages waged
battles to rule here.
In the 1900s, Portuguese
architect Diogo Lino Pimental
elegantly quilted this pousada
together upon the ruins of an
8th century Moorish castle, its
12th century palace renovation, and a 16th century convent replacement. Remnants
of all three are preserved.
The grounds include a welltended garden with fig trees,
a grapevine trellis, a prickly
pear cactus, and an enticing
turquoise swimming pool,
with outside bar.
FUN
LEARN
ENG
TM
FREE
The Rococo Pousada de Estoi with Versailles-style gardens.
MICHAEL VARGA
E
Giannella M. Garrett is a
freelance writer based in New
York. She has written articles
on culture, art, and travel for
the Boston Globe Magazine,
Chicago Magazine, and The
Epoch Times.
For information on the pousadas
of Portugal, check out Pousadas
of Portugal website:
The castle at the Pousada Palmela and the lush hills that
surround it.
We couldn’t
refrain from
ogling the
sumptuous
antique
tapestries,
contemporary
furnishings, local
handcrafts, and
ancient
artifacts.
Estoi
Approaching the Pousada de
Estoi, coloured an 18th century
Pepto-Bismol pink, and the
Rococo Palace, with its tiered
gardens, is like gliding into a
wedding cake. A gently rolling landscape that could be
mistaken for Tuscany envelops
Estoi. On a clear day, the southern Algarvan shore snaps into
focus. Faro, a prehistoric coastal fishing village and the capital of the Algarve region since
1756, is just six miles away.
Opened in 2009, the Pousada
deserves top marks for beauty,
originality, and proximity to a
wide variety of extraordinary
beaches: There’s trendy Albufeira to the west and familyoriented Tavira to the east. We
sunbathed at each and judged
Ilha de Tavira—a speck of an
island 7 miles long and 550
yards wide—more authentic
for its refreshing absence of
touristic flash.
Faro possesses a reckless
abandonment. Boarded-up
buildings, with cracked windows and peeling facades stand
alongside posh boutiques. We
slurped down salty raw oysters—the best I've ever tasted—
at Faro e Benfica Restaurante,
overlooking the city’s picturesque marina. They effused a
crisp freshness, as if plucked
from the sea moments before
being dropped on our plates.
I indulged much more than
my half. Our seafood risotto
entrée, deliciously paired with
a dry white wine from northern Portugal, seared enduring
memories.
Évora
Nothing is more sublime
than strolling around Évora,
an enchanting walled city
and UNESCO World Heritage
Site. The Pousada dos Lóios
stands at the high point, where
Roman, Gothic, and Baroque
structures converge. A former
GEOGRAPHY GURU
E
Growing Your Geography Knowledge
TM
Guess the hidden
saying, phrase or
word(s) suggested
by the picture!
Quiz 341
GRAND CANYON’S RIVER:
The Colorado River forms the following borders between
states: Arizona and California, Arizona and Nevada
(partial), and the Mexican states of Baja California and
Sonora. All told, the watershed of the Colorado, including major tributaries the San Juan River and the Green
River, covers land in seven American states. In which four
of the following states lie parts of the Colorado River
watershed?
SOLUTION BELOW
C
Alan Morgan
MEAFTERAFTER
Presented By
MICHAEL VARGA
INFOBOX
ON TH
iPHON
Palmela
We decided there was no way
our final pousada could match
our previous adventures. However, Pousada de Palmela, a
12th century castle turned
monastery in 1423, didn’t disappoint. The breadth of its
grounds and preserved ruins
transmitted an illusion of
unending space. We climbed
and explored every stony wall
and tower, like kids let loose
at recess. Sweeping views of
a pine and cypress forest—
Parque Natural da Arrábida—
spill into the gulf of Setúbal.
We toasted our fi nal dinner,
a lobster and shrimp feast,
accompanied by a sparkling
vinho verde (green wine) at a
restaurant aptly called “Portugal,” while we contentedly
gazed across the bay as lime
green ferries languidly delivered passengers to and fro.
Arkansas
Colorado
Kansas
New Mexico
South Dakota
Utah
nswer for Quiz 340:
ANCIENT ECHOES:
Ancient lands and their
associated modern
nations:
Aztec—Mexico
A delectable shrimp and lobster dish at the Restaurante
Portugal.
MICHAEL VARGA
www.pousadas.pt/historichotels-portugal/en/pages/home.
aspx
For more information on each of
the pousadas we visited:
Pousada Alcácer do Sal:
Hotel Dom Afonso II
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/alcacer-do-sal.
html
Pousada Estoi:
Hotel Palacio de Estoi
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/estoi.html
Pousada Évora: Hotel Lóios
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/evora.html
Pousada Estremoz:
Hotel Rainha Santa Isabel
Albufeira’s trendy beach and upper town.
convent, the pousada enjoys
some of the city’s most tantalizing historical sites for
neighbours. A walk through
centuries was ours in less than
an hour.
The Chapel of Bones (Capela
dos Ossos), at the Church of
St. Francis (Igreja de São Francisco) is a macabre must-see.
The skulls and bones of 5,000
cadavers dug up and carefully assembled by Franciscan
monks in the 17th century line
the walls. The grim inscription,
“Our bones await yours,” greets
visitors at the entrance.
To lighten the mood that
evening, we sashayed over to
the Restaurante 1/4 Para As 9
just in time to snatch the last
outdoor table. A well-travelled
British couple dined at the
next table. Keith and Christie
recounted spending the day in
Estremoz, 30 miles northeast,
visiting the pousada where
they had lodged 40 years ago.
It was as beautiful as they
remembered, they said.
We couldn’t resist checking
it out the next day. Pousada
Rainha Santa Isabel soars
above Estremoz’s worldfamous, snow-white marble
landscape. Built in the 13th
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/estremoz.
html
Pousada Palmela:
Hotel Castelo de Palmela
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/palmela.html
Other pousadas we didn’t visit:
Pousada Santa Clara-a-Velha:
Hotel Santa Clara
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/santa-clara-avelha.html
Pousada Sagres: Hotel Do Infante
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/sagres.html
Pousada de Beja: Hotel São
Francisco
www.pousadasofportugal.com/
portugal/pousada/beja.html
Sudoku Sudoku Sudoku
Fill in the boxes using
numbers between 1 and 9
so that each column, each
row, and each 3x3 square
contain all nine numbers
only once.
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Babylonia—Iraq
Bactria—Afghanistan
Choson—Korea
Hibernia—Ireland
Inca—Peru
Kush—Sudan
This week's solution
ANS: Xxx Repeat after me XxXxX