Small town, vast history…
Estremoz stands proudly on the flat plains of the Alentejo region of Portugal, today surrounded by banks of vineyards that run up towards the walled town from almost all sides.
…And Estremoz has reason to be proud—for such a small and sometimes overlooked town, it has played a surprisingly huge part in the history of Portugal. Being set close to the border with Spain, it played a pivotal role in the long-standing struggle for independence, was home to famous figures such as the legendary Don Dinis, saintly Dona Isabel de Portugal who died here, as well as the heroic Nuno Alvares—and even a 3,000 British solders in the 17th century!
But long before all of this, Estremoz was settled in Stone Age, Roman and Moorish times—and for those who would like to know more about what went on here and what makes the Estremoz people as they are today, you can read its story and visit its historic sites on these pages…
We have passed this church many, many times on our way home from Estremoz and this week our curiosity finally got the better…
One of the reasons we came to visit Portugal in the first place was to check out its numerous castles, so you can…
I own a copy of a lovely coffee table book called ‘As Mais Belas Vilas e Aldeias de Portugal’ (Portugal’s Most Beautiful Towns…
When we decided to move to Estremoz and make our home on the outskirts in a place called Ameixial, we had no idea…
It is no secret that Portugal’s Alentejo is full of historic places that in some cases date back to Neolithic times. It is…
Portugal, or Lusitania as it was known at the time, was the western most province of the Roman world, with it’s capital very…