MY WAY PLUS
In the nick of time
I
WAS inspired by a plaque in an 800-yearold castle on top of a spectacular mountain. The castle reared over the modern village of Monsanto in Central Portugal and was half destroyed when its ammunition dump blew up in the 1800s. However, the remains are still incredibly special and it is now one of central Portugal’s most important tourist and historical attractions. The plaque hinted at a book written by a man called Duarte de Armas, who was instructed by the king, Manuel 1, in the year 1509, to head out and document all the castles and fortifications on the border of Spain. He did just that and set off with his horse and squire and completed a year long odyssey around the entire Spanish border with Portugal. The results of his work can be seen in a book called Livro de Fortalezas. I decided that it would be a great addition to my youtube channel to head out and film all these castles. I commenced with an evening down in Castro Marim castle on the eastern stretches of the Algarve. It was well-timed as they were in the throes of an annual medieval festival and literally hundreds of people were dressed up in period clothing and roamed the streets searching for mead. A procession kicked off the proceedings and it was fascinating to observe medieval-style jugglers, musicians, dancers and the occasional snake wrapped around participants’ necks as they marched through the crowd. Towncriers and officials rang bells while scantily-clad dancers moved to the beat of heavy drums. Above it all, the age-old castle walls looked down as a red sun sank behind them. My next effort was to do an overnighter near two more castles that were on the list and relatively close
The remains of the castle in Monsanto make it one of central Portugal’s most important tourist and historical attractions.
ALGARVE P L U S
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N I C K R O B I N S O N I S I N TO C A S T L E S H E R E I N P O RT U G A L R I G H T N OW, A N D S P EC I F I C A L LY T H O S E A LO N G T H E B O R D E R W I T H S PA I N T H AT A R E R I C H W I T H T H E H I S TO RY O F T H E L A N D
by: Mértola and Alcoutim. Luckily, my friend that I visited Castro Marim with knew the owner of the original hotel in Mértola: Beira Rio. I popped in for a quick interview and she explained about her most recent hotel next door, Hotel Museu, and a newer one down in Alcoutim. The severe lack of accommodation had always been a problem for the area, but now there are a multitude of airbnbs plus the three hotels. It would be hard to find a more beautiful area and if you haven’t visited, I urge you to head over to Alcoutim. For fun, you have the world’s only crossborder zip line whisking you across the Guadiana River from Spain to Portugal. There is a gorgeous little river beach with café nearby and a good few riverside restaurants. I’ve spent a lot of time down there and love it – you would too! Thirty-two kilometres upriver is Mértola. The town enjoys a grandiose entrance as you round the corner and approach the bridge across a little gorge. The castle stands tall, directly above, and the road curves around into town. It’s a larger settlement than Alcoutim and the castle truly is majestic. I explore the town and focus on a fair bit of the history of the castle in my video. However, I kept on heading north with Serpa now in my sights and then my castle count started ticking over, racking up to 20 by the time my initial mission was finished. Moura, Noudar, Mourão, Monsaraz, Alandroal, Juromenha and many others. By the time my three days were over, I was all castled out and feared that my Youtube audience would be, too. I have resolved to continue the mission over time but will be focusing more on the Algarve in the coming months.
F i n d N i c k o n Yo uTu b e / J o i n A l g a r v e A d d i c t s Fa c e b o o k G r o u p / D i s c ove r m o r e a t a l g a r ve a d d i c t s . c o m
