Page 224 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

View from the top of Fort of Graça to Elvas
Middle: Elvas town square and the old cathedral
Opposite: Templo Romano in Évora
Bottom: Traditional white houses in Elvas

remote villages, guarantee a peaceful sleep while the political prison until 1974. “Sometimes we have for-
Pousadas de Portugal offer affordable stays in some mer inmates coming to visit and their stories, espe-
of the country's most magnificent old buildings like cially of those who were in solitary confinement, are
monasteries or castles. heart-breaking”, says Ribeiro.
Sights like the majestic Fort of Graça near the Just like the fortress, the town of Elvas is a uniquely
border town of Elvas are not visited often and cues well-preserved historic frontier, a mere 12kms from
at ticket offices are almost non-existent. “We’d love the Spanish border. Few tourists find their way here
to have more visitors”, says guide Margarida Ribeiro, but those who do are rewarded with a Moorish castle,
adding that the site was only opened as a museum in the biggest aqueduct on the Iberian peninsula and the
2015. Designed to withstand intense bombardment, handsomely tiled Praça da República square which
the star-shaped fortress was built between 1763 and is dominated by the former cathedral, the Igreja de
1792 and is a masterpiece of military fortification. Nossa Senhora da Assunção.
Featuring three defense lines, two moats, thick walls Century-old traditions, unusual food and historical
and thick slopes, Fort of Graça was eventually never treasures are to be found everywhere. The world is yet
attacked. However, it was used as a military, then a to discover Alentejo. Get there before it does.

224 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018