The Eastern Way
To experience the Caminhos de Santiago Alentejo e Ribatejo is more than a journey, it is an experience like no other, which marks us, and which we treasure.
Eastern Way
Journeying on the Caminhos de Santiago Alentejo e Ribatejo is a promise of adventure, of unexpected discoveries, of a history preserved in people’s memories, a story that unfurls at every stop.
Journeying on the Ways is to relive that history in the traces that the passing of time failed to erase, it is making the traveller a witness to a narrative revealed in its tangible and intangible heritage, in its lands, towns and curiosities, its cuisine, peoples and customs, those that have gone and those that continue to be, and who by taking part are unable to resist the enchantments revealed along the way.
More than a journey, it is to experience landscapes which, though different, share the fact of being unique, reverberating like echoes in our memory.
To experience the Caminhos de Santiago Alentejo e Ribatejo is more than a journey, it is an experience like no other, which marks us, and which we treasure. One we will want to repeat.
Alcoutim (Algarve) Mesquita
“…Coming from Alcoutim, we “navigate” the Guadiana river always along the Portuguese margin, following the signs of route GR15, until we reach the stream Ribeira do Vascão, already with the accumulated fatigue of some kilometers through the Algarve mountains.
The passage of Vascão Stream is made in the marked area, assuming that the water level is shallow, as it almost always is, except in the periods of heavy rains…”
Mesquita Mértola
“…We leave the village within the ancient stone walls that already then led people to Mértola. We enter the protected area of the Natural Park of Vale do Guadiana and, further away from the Algarve, we follow the Way to the north, towards the deep Alentejo.
Here, the green of the juniper scrublands and the singular holm oak forest are worth notice. In spring, the centenary blossomed tamarisk trees add some yellow and pink to it. We breathe the fresh air and go on our way!…”
Mértola Amendoeira da Serra
“…In a region where hunting is the dominant activity with centuries of history, as in the entire municipality of Mértola, the wealth of fauna resources in Amendoeira da Serra is great. This is particularly emphasized during the Feira da Caça (Hunting Fair), in October.
Here, we breathe history and, on the way there, we go through the Via Romana XXII (Roman Road), through the forest of stone pines that accompany us. The Road belonged to the Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, the register of the Roman Empire stations and roads…”
Amendoeira da Serra Cabeça Gorda
“…The origins of Cabeça Gorda village, by now in the municipality of Beja, are unknown. However, there are historical data showing that its creation was much earlier than Portugal’s birth, probably during the Arab occupation, which began in the year 711 AD.Created under the name of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of Conception) da Rocha, it is today known as Cabeça Gorda (Fat Head), a popular name that is believed to be associated with its toponymy: “cabeça” (head) deriving from “Cabeço”, that means hill, and “Gorda” (large) because of its width…”
Cabeça Gord Beja
“…The origins of Cabeça Gorda village, by now in the municipality of Beja, are unknown. However, there are historical data showing that its creation was much earlier than Portugal’s birth, probably during the Arab occupation, which began in the year 711 AD.Created under the name of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Our Lady of Conception) da Rocha, it is today known as Cabeça Gorda (Fat Head), a popular name that is believed to be associated with its toponymy: “cabeça” (head) deriving from “Cabeço”, that means hill, and “Gorda” (large) because of its width…”
Beja Cuba
“…Pure and hard plain, without shadows, some horses grazing, some olive trees lined up and a few planes taking off from the aerodrome, which aims to be an international airport. Beja serves as a starting point for another stage, which ends in Cuba, a town with several attractions. Right from the start, in the square where the Tourism Office is located, we discover the controversial statue of Cristóvão Colombo, by sculptor Alberto Trindade, which was inaugurated in 2006 and weighs one and a half tons…”
Cuba Viana do Alentejo
“…When you arrive to Viana do Alentejo, you can’t miss the panoramic view of the 13th century fortress, where you can see the church of Nossa Senhora d’Aires, the place where one of the main Alentejo pilgrimages of the Alentejo is celebrated, during Feira D’Aires. The majestic main church is protected by the wall, with an imposing marble portal, and through which you can climb to the roof to see closely the bronze bell in the Misericórdia tower…”
Viana do Alentejo Évora
“…There is not enough space here to the describe the many obligatory visits that the fascinating Évora offers us: the Cathedral, the countless churches, the Roman temple, the University, the genuine and ancient alleys, the convents and megalithic monuments in the vicinity, the Capela dos Ossos (Bones Chapel) in the Church of São. Francisco, where the message on the door is a reminder of the timeless human frailty: “We bones who are here, waiting for yours…”
Évora São Miguel de Machede
“…Évora is one of the cities with the richest historical past in the world. We could stay there, or come back a hundred times and, as Raul Proença says (in Guia de Portugal), we would always find “(…) towers that rise up, walls that crush us, crossroads that make us perplexed, façades that advance or retract, slopes, kinks, niches, small chests, counters, watercolor sections, (…).”…”
S. Miguel de Machede Evoramonte
“…The walled perimeter of Evoramonte Castle dates back to the beginning of the 14th century when D. Dinis ordered the town fortification. From there, the panorama is grandiose and stern, with a vast and imperturbable horizon that takes our breath away. Today, Evoramonte is the seat of the European Network of Sites of Peace, a network of places in Europe where peace treaties or capitulations were signed, represented by public and private institutions, in order to work together to build a culture of peace and promote these places based on their Common Historical Heritage – the PEACE…”
Evoramonte Estremoz
“…Until Estremoz we will have another journey of long intimacy with the cork oak and holm oak forest, winding through the dark green of the plantations and the buildings of the scarce estates. It is essential to prepare ourselves, both in terms of physical supply and mental robustness, because it is not foreseeable that we will find any kind of support on the Way…”
Estremoz Sousel
“…A village of great historical interest of the Middle Ages, Sousel is a true municipality with history, the same that helps to explain the origins of its name, shrouded in great controversy. For many, the origin is in the phrase pronounced by D. Nuno Álvares Pereira, the kingdom’s constable at the time of D. João I – “Ora Sus a Ell” – in 1834, in prayer during the battle to defend against the Castilians. For others, the name comes from the fennel Seseli, which grows wild in the local fields…”
Sousel Fronteira
“…On the way to Fronteira, an Alentejo village whose vestiges of human occupation date back to more than 10,000 years ago, we can find other vestiges, these from a less distant past. In 1384, when Portuguese independence was threatened by the siege of the king of Castela and by a Castilian invasion of the Alentejo, Nuno Álvares Pereira, at the service of the future King D. João I, gathered an army of just over 1500 men, 300 lancers, and 100 archers. The battle took place in the marshy site of Atoleiros, where the Portuguese troops adopted the square tactic and thus managed to supplant an army composed of three times more soldiers. The Castilian cavalry, defeated by the Portuguese lancers, began to disperse and abandon the battle, ending it with a victory for the Portuguese side, which prepared other important battles in the following months…”
Fronteira Cabeço de Vide
“…According to legend, it was at the head (“Cabeço”) of a hill that the survivors of the plague that followed a Saracen attack took refuge and, recovering their health, from then on they called it “Cabeço de Vida” (Head of Life). Cabeço de Vide is our next destination, where the Roman settlement overlapped the previous occupations, known since the Neolithic period, and left a strong influence in the region. There used to pass a subsidiary road of the important road that connected Lisbon to Mérida and served the Sulfúrea thermal springs, where ruins of a bathhouse were found as well as many other archaeological vestiges of that period…”
Cabeço de Vide Alter do Chão
“…On the way to Alter do Chão we pass by Alter Pedroso, which was granted a charter in 1216. The castle was probably erected from that date, possibly on the initiative of the Order of Avis, in whose possessions the town was established. The evolution of the works in the following decades is unknown, except that, in 1662, in the midst of the war between Portugal and Spain, the fortress was totally depleted and was devastated by the invading troops. Very little remains of the fortification, limited to traces of the wall, which formed an originally elliptical perimeter, and the main access door to the interior, of Gothic profile…”
Alter do Chão Crato
“…The ancient Ucrate was taken to the Moors in the 12th century and donated to the Order of the Hospitaller Knights of Malta soon after. The Cross of Malta is omnipresent here, attesting to the town’s importance in the medieval period of the Grand Priory of Crato, which incorporated an extensive region that today reaches part of the central region of Portugal.The village of Crato was conquered by Portuguese troops in the 12th century, but it was only after the donation to the Order of the Hospital, in 1232, that the settlement of the locality and region was uprooted…”
Crato Alpalhão
“…This stage begins in the village of Crato, having the Mosteiro de Flor da Rosa as a reference, the most important Portuguese medieval church-fortress, designed to house the seat of the Order of the Hospital in the country, and to which a monastery and a palace were associated.
Alpalhão is a small village in the municipality of Nisa, situated on the plain between the mountain range of São Mamede and the river Tejo, which integrated the domains of the Order of the Templars…”
Alpalhão Nisa
“…The Açafa estate, where Nisa would be born, was donated to the Order of the Temple by D. Sancho I. Around 1290, D. Dinis ordered the refounding of the village of Nisa in the Azambujal valley, a few kilometers south of Old Nisa. The construction of the village’s defensive fence dates back to the end of the 13th century. The works were directed by Lourenço Martins, master of the Order of the Temple, who erected a quadrangular fence, reinforced by towers. This defensive system was the object of several renovation campaigns in 1343, 1512 and 1646…”
Nisa Vila Velha de Rodão (Centro)
“…The vestiges of the past of Ródão are old, very old, mainly of geological nature, dated about 600 million years. Schist and quartzite rocks, fossils of trilobites and bivalves, are a testimony to an ancient sea that used to arrive until there. But there are many more traces of history, from different eras and peoples, from the Romans to the Muslims. On the way to Vila Velha de Ródão, it is also possible to see traces of the Order of Santiago’s contributions, in the part of the Porta de Santiago gate that is still preserved, with its arch pointed and flanked by two quadrangular towers. As we pass the street named Santiago, we can see that the connection to the apostle persists…”
