Wanderlust Portugal

Today I visited this vegan restaurant in Lisbon for the first time. I love to try all kinds of different food so I felt that it was time for a proper green meal. It is a medium sized place with seats both indoors and outdoors in the middle of downtown Lisbon in the Baixa neighbourhood. The street where it lies, Rua da Prata, is one of the busier streets in this area, many tourists and Portuguese walk here daily. So in case you are just strolling around this part of town and want to try some vegan food with a touch of various international cuisines and a modern touch, do drop in and have a bite. The prices are quite normal for a European capital, neither cheap nor expensive. We had to figure out what we wanted to have a go at and order from the menu but in the end we decided to try the: PORTUGUESE CORN BREAD BRUSCHETTA, OLIVES, TOMATO, "PARMESAN", WATERCRESS SEITAN BIO “PICA-PAU”, RED CABBAGE PICKLES, CACO BREAD HOLI - CHICKPEA AND QUINOA PATTY, TOMATO CHUTNEY, ...

This castle is visible from far away if you come driving towards the village of Portel. Quite a landmark in this region of Alentejo and the view from there is splendid as well! Many different cultural groups have taken control over these lands, the Phoenicians and Romans are some of them, they were interested in this region for its metallurgical resources. The Moors also came by and inhabited the region, some of the archaeological findings and toponyms seem to date back to the Islamic era, such as the name Portel Mafomede.  That name is mentioned when the king D. Afonso III hands over the lands of Portel Mafomede  close to Évora to a noble knight who was also the king's steward and one of his closest allies, named João Peres de Aboim, in 1257. The Gothic castle was built soon thereafter in 1261 so as to protect the nobleman, his family who had moved there and the people living in the village. The castle soon fell into royal hands since the king D. Dinis and the widow of Jo...

Serpa is the perfect town for a day trip, you will have time to walk around and enjoy the old town, visit some museums, have a food stop and feel you've managed to get a good picture of this place. Here is a suggestion of what you can do during your visit: 1. Take a walk in the old town Enter the city via the old gates of Moura or Beja (these are the original entrances which are still in place). You will get lost in a labyrinth of small houses, some fancy ones, some very basic, all of them have loads of charm. Between the houses you might find cheese shops, handicraft shops or small taverns serving tasty wine and food. Do not be shy, step inside and take a look for yourself. You might find cute pottery, some woven baskets, metal works, different textiles and crafts made of wood, cork or leather. They are very proud of their local crafts here and no wonder why. People still remember how to do things such as they have been done since Roman times or even longer in this region,...

Dragon and Medieval lovers, there is a town for you out there in the Portuguese Alentejo region. It has charm, ruins, great food as well as a rich history and kind people. This is a small city of about 15.000 inhabitants and it lies in a very fertile landscape where they grow olive trees, vines, wheat and loads of sheep graze quietly under the sun. You can't miss the Medieval remains all around town. The castle, the houses, the outline of the city... I for one love the city heraldry which is showing a castle with a dragon or big serpent guarding it on several places around town. This is not the first time Portugal or a city is connected to serpents, they probably really existed in a huge amount of numbers in ancient times and where mentioned living in this territory by Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans for example. The Greek name for Portugal was Ophiusa which literally means Land of Serpents. The Dragon figure can also be connected in Christian terms to São Jorge and the dragon...

The Alqueva Dam is the largest artificial lake in Europe. It lies between the districts of Beja and Évora and the water comes from the Guadiana river which has been turned into a water reservoir when they built an arch dam between the village of Alqueva (from where the dam got it's name) and the city of Moura. The size is of about 250 square km and it took about 50 years to finish the building project. The main idea was to stop the desertification of the area and help out with the agriculture which had stagnated and yielded very low profit. In January 2002 they could finally start filling the dam. This dam has completely transformed the original landscape, now it is green, lush and full of life. Before it was quite a barren stretch of meager soils, not good enough to produce wheat, and the name Alqueva means "deserted". The fresh water changes everything, you can notice that specifically on the wide range of birds, we saw for example many cranes during our round...

Imagine a huge forget-me-not blue water dam in the middle of a hilly landscape where olive trees and cork oaks grow. Cows and sheep are grazing in the sun and you can spot several villages on top of those hills protected by castle walls and high towers. One of those villages is called Mourão which is also a municipality of the Alentejo region. The castle is shown in the town heraldry as well. To the west you can spot the old village of Monsaraz across the water. To the east you can see across the border to Spain which lies 8 km away. The view from the castle is indeed splendid and breathtaking on a sunny day. If you've got just a few minutes to take a break, do walk up there and get a better picture of the landscape. Very little is unfortunately known about the prehistory of this place. There where clashes in this area between Christian and Muslim troops from the 9th century A.D. and onward. After the Christians had reconquered the territory, it was given to the Sovereign Milit...