Evoramonte #4

Day 47. Thursday 24 April.

April 25 is a significant day for Australians and New Zealanders, and it is also a significant day for the Portuguese. We have seen signs, posters, murals and banners since we arrived advertising 25 Abril, the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, a coup by military officers that saw the overthrow of the dictatorial government in 1974. The coup produced major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes, not only in Portugal but in its overseas territories as well, including East Timor. After the revolution East Timor claimed independence but was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and was not free until 2002. From the responses to our quiet questions there is no doubt the revolution is seen as a good thing, certainly by those old enough to have lived it.

If yesterday was the day of cork, today was the day of earth (marble and clay): 15 kms up the road took us to Estremoz, a town noted for its marble, ceramic tiles and its clay figurines. First stop, even before coffee, was the Museu Bernardo Estremoz, which houses a personal collection of ceramic tiles jointly managed by the owner (of the tiles and the palace housing them) and the municipal council. Spanning 800 years of tiles (Iberian and beyond), the impact was overwhelming.

The collection was extensive, with captions in Portuguese and English, and was beautifully laid out and presented on three levels and we had the place to ourselves! The woman manning the wine shop (part of the complex) explained that was not unusual, except for Saturdays when there is an adjacent flea and antiques market. Estremoz is not on the ‘must do’ tourist list – people come after doing everything else, like Lisbon and Porto and so on. The huge collection can also be viewed via a website at https://museuberardoestremoz.pt/

But there’s more…

There were also a couple of ‘non tile’ exhibitions, the most striking being human figures carved into tree trunks.

T was particularly taken by a (1968 maybe) tile grouping that seemed to be asking that very important question, ‘What’s for dinner?’ And the answer was ‘ My version of stitched together pork’.

The visit ended with a wine tasting – not sure of the connection – with today a choice between one maker’s red, white or rose, and another’s Moscatel, a sweet aperitif from a rose grape grown only in Portugal. We chose the latter, and came away with a bottle to sip during our future travels. When we commented on the beautiful marble in every structure in town, including the cobblestones, we were told that yes, marble and wine are the town’s income. Marble makes for terrific wine because it holds moisture and the minerals in the soil help the vines.

Coffee at a rather smart cafe – the sort that ladies dine at – produced nice espressos, an empada (partridge) that wasn’t quite as delicious as yesterday’s but fine, and some sort of saveloy wrapped in a pastry, which wasn’t what D had ordered. He was too overawed to send it back: it actually was OK.

After the tile museum the Centro Interpretativo do Boneco de Estremoz. This was another fabulous display of the clay figurine artisanal tradition of the area. Unfortunately the descriptions were only in Portuguese, but a couple of videos with English subtitles made up for that. The craft dates from around 18th century and has gained a UNESCO status in recent times. The display was sheer delight and we followed up by visiting two of the artisans in their retail locations.

Up the hill to the Castelo, to find that the building was now the Pousada de Castelo Estremoz – part of an expensive hotel chain. Off to the side, we were beckoned inside an exhibition of the graphic art work of Armando Alves, a display of his life’s work. Needless to say, 25 Abril featured a couple of times. We thought at first the building was, or had been, a church but it was a former municipal building. The attendant remarked that many people made that assumption.

From the castle ramparts we could see in the distance what we assumed was huge pile of marble (the white in the distance) – and hoped was not the local rubbish tip! (On our way home we detoured and confirmed that indeed they were humongous piles of marble, at the municipal marble quarry.

Down town for lunch at the earlier cafe: non-alcoholic beers and a cheese and jamon tosta to share. It was terrific.

Then to look for a genuine clay figurine as our souvenir of the trip. Found just what we wanted: ‘love is blind’ is one of the themes of the figurine makers, and we were both taken with it: when discussing what to buy we said almost simultaneously ‘not a nativity scene’ (we have enough of them).

Estremoz is a marvelous, beautiful town. When that lotto ticket delivers, we’ll go to the real estate agent.