We started our 9-day trip to Portugal in Aug/2016 (see summary of the complete trip here) renting a car at the airport Lisbon and going straight down to a delightful beach in the Alentejo region, Pêgo Beach. All the blogs and guides that I read spoke very well of the beaches in the Algarve region and not so much of the beaches in Alentejo, but after spending a few hours on this beach, I need to change that (I hope someone reads it and is encouraged to go visit!).

Update 2020: Now living in Portugal, I learned that the beaches in this region of Alentejo are part of an area known as Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, which is about 110 km long and includes territories in the districts of Beja, Faro and Setúbal and runs along the coast from Alentejo to the Algarve. It is a beautiful place, in short.

As we toured the Alentejo coast at the beginning of the trip and then returned from the Algarve through the Alentejo, this post It will be a bit broken because it will take the details of these two parts of the trip that had the Algarve in between. The itineraries we did were these, look:

I wrote the details of the first script (Lisbon – Pêgo Beach – Odeceixe) first and then the details of the second (Albufeira – Esporão Estate – Monsaraz – Evora – Lisbon). Let's go?

Script 1

Day 1 – Saturday (08/27/2016)

We drove almost 2 hours from Lisbon to Praia do Pêgo, because we read a very good review of the restaurant that is right there facing the sea and because we knew we would be tired from the plane trip (my mother-in-law especially, since she came straight from Brazil). 

His name is Salt and although we weren't able to have lunch because we didn't have a reservation (we didn't know we needed one), I thought the decor was really cute and I got the impression that the food was good. I recommend you make a reservation and then tell me what you thought!

Since we were already at the beach and it was simply beautiful with its clear blue water, we decided to take advantage and sit at the little bar next to the restaurant (there were only two of these establishments on the entire beach) and relax. We ordered some sandwiches, beers and juices and also took a dip in the beautiful and cold sea for my Bahian standards (for Celo it was calm).

We then drove for another 2 hours to the village of Odeceixe, our final stop of the day. Although this village is in the Algarve region, I'll quickly talk about it here too, because I fell in love with it! All of its houses are white, its streets are very calm and narrow and the village is in the middle of a very nice green area, super calm. The beach that bears its name, Odeceixe Beach, It is about a 10-minute drive from the village, and it is simply wonderful, with the meeting of the river and the sea. I will leave two photos here for you to fall in love with too, but I told everything in this post here.

Script 2

Day 6 – Thursday (09/01/2016)

After the day described above, we spent 4 full days in the Algarve region (see more details here) and on the sixth day of our trip, we left Albufeira for Evora, stopping at two wonderful places along the way: the winery Spur Estate and the village of Monsaraz. Both stops were suggested by my mother-in-law and we simply loved them and recommend them both. Thank you, aunt! 🙂

Spur Estate

We drove just under 3 hours from Albufeira to the winery with the aim of just having lunch at the restaurant, because in 40 degree heat, no one can stand to walk through the vineyards, right? We call in advance to reserve a table. for 3 people and at 2:30 pm we sat down to have the best meal of the trip (in my case, of my life).

They gave us a menu with the 3 tasting menu options and we chose the Mountain Menu, which cost 75 euros per person with 5 dishes described on the menu and different wines accompanying them all (see all the restaurant's menus here). To our surprise, the chef prepared extra dishes (they call them chef's surprises) and we ended up eating 10 dishes! They were all delicious, beautiful and went perfectly with the suggested wines, that is, We definitely RECOMMEND lunch at this place! 😉

PS: My mother-in-law found an interesting post with the best wines in the region. Just click on it here to find out more.

Monsaraz

After a 3 hour lunch at this wonderful restaurant, we drove for half an hour to the village of Monsaraz. The road is very pretty, but nothing compares to the view we had from the castle in this village. We parked the car in a free parking lot outside the wall and walked through the narrow streets full of white houses until we reached the castle. We entered the castle (free entry) built in the 14th century and enjoyed the view of the region, which is simply beautiful. What a peaceful place this is, guys…

Evora

We drove for 1 hour until Evora and we went straight to our hotel, as we were exhausted. We stayed at the Moov Hotel Évora, which is located in the historic part of the city, has its own parking, is completely modern and the daily rate was 49 euros without breakfast (the coffee cost only 5.95). Need I say more? 🙂

We rested a bit and went for a walk around the fortified city, even though all the attractions were closed due to the late hour. I've included on the map below what we visited in Évora (you can edit it as you wish):

We passed by Roman Temple, believed to have been built in the 2nd or 3rd century, in front of the See, 13th century city cathedral, and in Giraldo Square, where we stopped for dinner at the restaurant Fanaticism. The food was nothing special, but sitting and relaxing in the square was worth it. We returned to the hotel shortly after.

Day 7 – Friday (02/09/2016)

We woke up relatively early, had breakfast at the hotel and went out to visit the city's main attractions, which were now open. We crossed the Giraldo Square again, we walked along the main street of the city, the 5th October Street, where we buy souvenirs (there are a lot of cork things!) and in a short time we arrived at See, the city's cathedral.

We paid 3.50 euros per person to visit the interior, cloister and roof. Everything was very beautiful and well preserved.

Then we walked to the Chapel of Bones, which is inside the Church of St. Francis, and we paid just under 3 euros per person to enter. It was built in the 17th century by Franciscan friars with the aim of conveying the message of the transience and fragility of human life (see the sign at the entrance). Around 5,000 human skulls are there, with many bones coming from the graves of the convent church and other churches and cemeteries in the city. It is impressive!

We then passed by Municipal Market of the city, but some shops were closed because it was holiday season. It must be more interesting outside the summer.

We walked back through the city's cute little streets to our hotel and after doing our check out, we headed to Lisbon. Look what we found on the road (later I realized they are everywhere):

That's it! 🙂

If you want to know more about the region, this blog It's very complete. Enjoy the tips and have a good trip!