Estremoz, Portugal

Monday, March 11, 2024

Time to pack up and move on! It’s funny how three days in one place feels like a week to us while we’re traveling. The slower pace of life and comfortable accommodations of our rental home at Burrico D'orada was exactly what our family needed to rest & recharge.

Andi didn’t order a delicious breakfast basket to be delivered to our doorstep this morning since we were leaving. Instead, he made breakfast with food we had leftover in the fridge — Andi and Aden had chicken and rice for breakfast, and Tory had gnocchi. I ate the last yogurt parfait from yesterday’s breakfast basket.

Around 10:00am, we loaded our bags into the rental car and said good-bye to Rita. She had one last area recommendation for us to stop in the Alentejo town of Estremoz, have lunch there, and stay for a night in an old convent that’s been converted into a hotel. We departed the town of Moura and made our way there.

It was an easy, 1 1/2 hour drive through the countryside to reach Estremoz, Portugal. Aden and I are still battling head colds, plus I might’ve had a slight headache from all that wine yesterday, so we zoned out most of the way listening to music while Andi drove.

Estremoz is a typical Portuguese town of about 7,000 people. Like many places in this country, Estremoz has a rich past of Roman, Muslim, and Christian inhabitants. Our family has learned so much about the history of the world during the 2nd-13th centuries through our travels in Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, that we easily notice architectural details on buildings and churches now. I’ve never been one to appreciate architectural details, but it’s really quite amazing to understand the meanings behind the visual details and how it symbolically ties to a period in history.

Our friend Rita recommended we have lunch at Restaurant Águias D'Ouro in Estremoz. We arrived there as the restaurant was opening, and were seated inside immediately. Águias D'Ouro is a more higher-end restaurant, and one where everything on the menu is likely to taste exceptional. Andi ordered bread, olives, and cheese for us to snack on while we made our meal selections. We’ve been impressed by Tory and Aden’s tastes on this trip, and their willingness to try new foods and flavors. Aden, in particular, loves dipping his bread in the good olive oil they have in the Alentejo region.

For our meals, I selected a type of veggie hand pie wrapped in a pastry crust with pea puree. It wasn’t on the menu, but we were able to request a grilled chicken breast and french fries for Aden, and mashed potatoes for Tory (she said she wasn’t very hungry). Andi ordered the grouper fish special, but the waitress said it was no longer available. Andi quickly scanned the menu again, and then said in a hurry, “I’ll … I’ll have the grilled octopus.” The look on Tory and Aden’s faces when he said those words! They were both in complete shock and horror that he’d order that meal. “Dad! Octopus?! What were you thinking? Did you accidentally say the wrong thing?” they peppered him with questions once our server walked away from the table. The kids’ expressions might be one of my favorite moments of our whole trip.

Andi’s grilled octopus arrived to the table a few minutes later, and he said it was actually very delicious. “What? I’ve been wanting to try it while we were in Portugal,” he defended. For some reason, no one else was interested in trying it. Tory and Aden shared a brownie for dessert before we left the restaurant and set off to further explore the town of Estremoz.

The weather was cloudy and cool in Estremoz today. If only the sun would shine and the temperature would warm up just five degrees, I bet this city would sparkle in beauty. The four of us walked along the calçada portuguesa (patterned cobblestone sidewalks), window browsing some of the stores and admiring the fountains in the center plaza. Tory and Aden raced each other around the perimeter of a big fountain in the center while Andi and I decided what to do with the rest of our afternoon.

There’s a small science museum in Estremoz that Andi thought the kids might enjoy. We walked across the plaza to the entrance, but unfortunately the museum was closed this afternoon for a private school group tour.

We couldn’t check into our hotel until 3:00pm, but Andi thought we might be able to arrive there a little early. From the town of Estremoz, we drove 30 minutes to Hotel Convento São Paulo. Built on the slopes of Serra D' Ossa on 600 hectares of rural countryside, this hotel was once a convent for the monks of São Paulo. It now has a private owner which once used the property for his family’s summer home and has since turned it into a hotel to provide income for the upkeep and building restoration.

Some of the hotel rooms were originally the monk’s cells. We booked a suite in the annex for our family’s stay because we needed three beds, and it was cheaper than reserving two hotel rooms. Our room off the main entrance of the building included a queen-size bed, and two cots set up for the kids in what would be the living room area of the suite. The suite also included a bathroom with a tub shower.

I know the convent-turned-hotel was built in the 11th century so I can’t expect it to be fresh & new, but our room reeked of an incense smell. I think it was from the wood-burning fireplace. I know our family is overly-sensitive to smells, but it was strong enough that I almost had to cover my nose. I did not like that part about staying here.

After we dropped our bags in our room, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I decided to walk around and explore the convent. The hotel provided us with a map and one-page fact sheet highlighting various pieces of artwork, fountains, and rooms in the building. We had a lot of fun wandering around through the dimly-lit maze of rooms and hallways. It felt like we were the only people on the property, and definitely gave us haunted hotel vibes. Tory said, “Doesn’t it look like the portraits on the walls have eyes that follow you?” They really did!

The walls of the Convento de São Paulo are made up by 54,000 cobalt blue tiles, the largest private collection in the country. They were beautiful to look at, all depicting different scenes of the Bible.

The Portuguese monks were not large people, evident by the small doorways throughout the convent. This is the door to one of the hotel rooms in the building.

Andi liked the old chapel best, though it strongly smelled of mold inside the room. “You can feel God’s presence in this chapel,” he said. “Think about all the people who have prayed in this very room, or maybe found God for the very first time here.”

Outside the convent, there’s a swimming pool and a courtyard. It was obviously the wrong season for us to be swimming, but reviews online said the hotel has a bar set up out here in the summertime.

The courtyard, called The Garden of Novices, was where new monks were brought to be convinced to stay in the convent. The courtyard was filled with citrus trees, many laying rotten on the ground from the plethora of them hanging in the tree.

There’s also Florentine-style fountains on the outside of the property, of which one is designated a national monument. The view was particularly incredible from the courtyard overlook.

Unfortunately, we needed to do some school work and Andi had some computer work to do, so the four of us found the monk’s library to sit and do our studies. It smelled of incense in this room, too, which is why I think the incense smell was coming from the wood burning in the fireplace. Nevertheless, the kids and I sat on the sofa and did math & language arts while Andi sat on the opposing sofa and accomplished the work he needed to complete. This has to be one of the more strange places we’ve done our school work, though our travels have brought us to a few different spaces.

A few more hotel guests wandered in and out through the library, but there weren’t many people staying here — maybe 10 other guests in total?

Andi and I decided to eat in the hotel’s restaurant, called Ermita, for dinner since Convento São Paulo is located about 20 minutes outside of the nearest town. The front desk requested we make reservations for dinner, but we were the only people there at 7:30pm. I’m not sure why we had to.

Our server was very friendly, and explained the menu in English. Andi and I shared the pork tenderloin and beef filet entrees. Aden had spaghetti and Tory ordered vegetable soup for her meal.

“You don’t want to try the wines?” our waiter asked Andi and I. “The Alentejo Region has some of the best wines in Portugal.” We know, I told the waiter. Too much wine yesterday means hot tea suited us just fine tonight. People in this area of Portugal are very passionate about wine, and very knowledgable.

Our family was back in our room, settled in for the night by 9:00pm. Tory sat on the window ledge (the only spot the internet works in our hotel room) and talked to her friend Grace on Facebook Kids Messenger, and Aden played video games while Andi and I went to bed. Tomorrow, our travel journey continues to Lisbon, Portugal.