Arraiolos

Whilst in Evora to deliver my address, I took a lovely trip through central Alentejo to the town of Arraiolos with its castle dominating the landscape. This was, in the past I gather, frontier territory disputed by Spain and the Moors. Well, now it is peaceful and attractive. The journey was through open rolling country browning off as summer approaches and we saw lots of hay cut in the fields to keep livestock alive through summer. This is the opposite of northern Europe where hay is cut as winter feed.

When we arrived in Arraiolos, we found an interesting medieval market. The stalls included a spice market - though not as grand as the one we saw in Istanbul. However, the stall-holders had an interesting take on the medical properties of the spices - have a look at the second photo and spot the diseases treated! There was also a group of medieval jousters.

The district is known for its carpets and tapestries. I bought a small one of the latter for Dot ... she doesn't know it yet

Again look at the blue-edged whitewashed walls typical of the region in the above picture and the narrow alleys. These emerge in the following photos.

But the jewel in Arraiolos' crown is the large castle perched high on craggy rocks looming over the town.

AS