Page 221 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

Alentejo

Cork trees in Alentejo -
photo credit Rui Cunha
(Turismo Alentejo)

t first glance, the middle- forests. To visit the Alentejo, Portugal’s
aged woman with the largest but least developed region, is
glasses and greyish to travel back in time.
Ahair is just wrapping Its proud if melancholic people
little clay balls the size of marbles but valiantly cling to their local crafts like
within seconds a head, legs, arms, and young Riu Picaveu who continues the
then a fully developed figure appears. custom of cowbell making, an art form
Together with her sister and nephew, that has existed in the Alentejo for over
Maria Inácia Fonseca runs the craft two thousand years. The Portuguese
studio Irmãs Flores in the small town cowbell which has an unmistakable
of Estremoz in Portugal’s Alentejo re- sound can still be heard in rural areas,
gion. They are three of only ten people where animals are herded. The bells,
who uphold a tradition which dates starting from as low as 4 Euros and
back to the seventeenth century. becoming more expensive according
Day in day out they create small art- to size, get exported to France, Spain,
works depicting natural elements, local and even Angola. Only 13 master
trades and events, popular traditions cowbell manufacturers remain in
and devotions. “I started when I was Portugal, with the majority located in
13 years old”, says Fonseca. “Since the Alentejo.
UNESCO inscribed our Estremoz clay Besides the two endangered cultural
figures on the cultural heritage list, traditions, UNESCO has also listed the
we’ve become even busier though we town of Évora, arguably the region’s
still only have the same number of biggest attraction and an enchanting
hands. I’m ready to retire but who will place to delve into the past. Inside the
continue this work?” 14th-century walls, Évora’s narrow,
The clay figures of Estremoz are winding lanes lead to a vast array of
not the only example of the country’s fascinating historical monuments:
endangered craftsmanship but the Portugal’s largest medieval cathedral;
Alentejo region might just be the best the columns of Templo Romano; a pic-
place to protect them. Travelers who turesque town square, once the site of
skip the much more famous beaches some rather gruesome episodes dur-
of the Algarve or the wine tempta- ing the Inquisition; and the macabre
tions of the Douro will journey past crypt of the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel
wheatfields, wildflower meadows, of Bones).
sleepy white-washed villages, majestic Along the cobblestone streets, many
medieval cities and endless cork oak shops sell products made from cork

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