Vila Viçosa Hike
This is a 9 km (5.5 miles) easy circular Hike. Vila Viçosa is the land of the last Royal Dynasty of Portugal, the Braganças.
We'll start our Hike at "Terreiro do Paço" where we have the 16th century Ducal Palace. From here we'll continue through typical streets all the way to "Largo dos Capuchos" where we have the "Coreto", the Bandstand, the Bullring and some religious Monuments. In this square we have the annual festival. Here we can see the Hermitage of St. Luis, the Convent of the Capuchos and the interesting Hermitage of S. Tiago. This Hermitage was the Basilica of the Visigoths and the Qubba of Islam. From here will go to the outskirts of Vila Viçosa along "Azinhagas", old paths. Paths between olive trees, cork and holm oaks. Sometimes we are accompanied by goats or watched by pigs through the bushes. A donkey calls to us in the distance. The sheep graze in the fields, guarded by the "Rafeiro Alentejano", the traditional sheepdog of Alentejo. If we are lucky we might even see a wild boar, a fox or a "Saca-Rabos", a local mongoose that feeds during the day. There are several species of birds that fly over our heads. We´ll walk alongside the "Tapada Real", the royal family's hunting grounds surrounded by a 5-meter wall, with a perimeter of 18 km and 900 hectares (2200 acres) of area. We'll return to Vila Viçosa and visit the Medieval Village. The Medieval Castle is now a Fort rebuilt in the 15th century to better resist cannons. In the Fort we have the Hunting and Archaeology Museums. The latter hides archaeological treasures that were gathered by the Kings over the centuries. Surrounded by medieval walls we have a monumental cemetery. The most famous tomb is not that of a soldier or navigator but the tomb of the poetess “Florbela Espanca”. We can visit the Sanctuary of “Our Lady of Conception”, she's the protector of Portugal. Conception is one of the 722 names of Maria in Portugal. On the medieval wall we’ll find engraved thousands of symbols. They represent requests for protection to Our Lady or "Votes". In the gardens we can find marble that has been extracted from the region since Roman times 2000 years ago. We'll leave the Medieval Village and head to the Renaissance City. We’ll walk along the main avenue built in the 20th century by the “Estado Novo”. The construction of this avenue forced the destruction of blocks of buildings. We continue our Hike through streets lined with Palaces from the 17th and 18th centuries and return to “Terreiro do Paço”. Around this square we have several monuments like the Church of the “Agostinhos” or the Convent of the “Chagas”. The highlight goes to the 17th century “Paço Ducal”, the Palace of the House of Bragança. We can visit the Palace, Carriage collection and the Gardens.
If we still have energy we can go up to “Alto de S Bento” where we’ll find the ruins of a Fort and a Church. From here we can see the “Alto da Forca” where the gallows were. We can also visit the interesting Marble Museum on the outskirts of the city.
