Estremoz Tour
The City of Estremoz is one of the Alentejo secrets. A City made of white marble, this natural resource has been exploited for 2000 years since the Romans. In Estremoz we’ll find Palaces, Convents and Monasteries built in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Some of them are now Museums and the highlight goes to the Tile Museum. In Estremoz we also have the largest Market in Alentejo. Every Saturday morning, hundreds of vendors bring fruit, animals and all kinds of antiques to the city's square.
We'll start our visit in the medieval village at the highest point of Estremoz. In the distance we can see “Serra d'Ossa”, the sacred hill of Alentejo. Around the city we have a Bulwark fortification from the 17th century. In Estremoz we have several buildings from this period: the Barracks where the soldiers stayed, the “Assento” that produced bread or the gunpowder magazine. Dominating the Castle we’ll find a Tower from the 14th century, 27 meters tall and all built in white marble. If we have energy we can go up to the Tower and see the views and the city. In the center we also have the medieval “Paço da Audiencia” and the Church of “Santa Maria”. The latest hides a Popular Sanctuary with lots of carvings in the walls and may have been the former Mosque. We’re now walking through medieval narrow streets with Gothic and “Manuelino” doors. We’ll see the medieval Dungeons and the Jewish Quarter with a couple of “Mezuzah”. We go out from the medieval town to the more organized 19th century City. We walk through a City made of Palaces, Convents, Monasteries and Fountains made of white marble. We’ll find facades covered in tiles, balconies with beautiful iron works and the typical Portuguese pavement. Around “Rossio” Square we’ll find local shops and cafes in Art Nouveau style.
By the end of our tour we can visit the Museums in restored Palaces from the 1800s. In the Tile Museum we have 5000 tiles from different periods and at the end....a wine tasting. We can also visit Workshops and a Museum for the local pottery of the “Figurado de Estremoz”. This local tradition is now World Heritage.
