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country bliss<br />
ALENTEJO’S ALLURE<br />
Portugal’s vast, bucolic and little-populated region makes a relaxing<br />
rural escape from the buzzing cities of the west coast<br />
PEITA BLYTHE<br />
1 An in-the-know destination<br />
for seekers after unspoiled and<br />
undeveloped coastal landscapes,<br />
Comporta has been a destination<br />
for a few years now. The hippest<br />
places to stay hitherto have been<br />
Sublime Comporta and Casas<br />
na Areia, but architect Miguel<br />
Câncio Martins’s brand new<br />
QUINTA DA COMPORTA has<br />
raised the bar, upcyling the area’s<br />
rustic reed-and-thatch architecture<br />
of an ancient rice barn into a<br />
masterpiece of rustic minimalism.<br />
quintadacomporta.com<br />
2 A 26-suite contemporary hotel<br />
among the vines, with views across<br />
a lake towards the medieval castle<br />
of Montemor-o-Novo, L’AND<br />
VINEYARDS seamlessly combines<br />
wine and landscape, modernity<br />
and alentejano heritage. Ten rooms<br />
have retractable roofs, for nights<br />
under a star-scape of astonishing<br />
clarity. l-and.com<br />
3 Not much doubt about<br />
Alentejo’s top cultural day-trip:<br />
It would have to be ÉVORA.<br />
This stupendous granite-andwhitewash<br />
city is a Unesco World<br />
Heritage site whose gloriously<br />
gloomy Gothic cathedral and<br />
Roman temple of Diana are only<br />
the most obvious of a slew of<br />
historic gems. At the M’AR DE<br />
AR AQUEDUTO, contemporary<br />
luxe sits prettily in a 15th-century<br />
palace hard by the town’s medieval<br />
battlements. mardearhotels.com<br />
4 José António Uva left his London<br />
banking job to restore a country<br />
estate near Monsaraz that had<br />
been in his family for two centuries.<br />
Starchitect Eduardo Souto de<br />
Moura was drafted in to help<br />
create SÃO LOURENÇO DO<br />
BARROCAL’s gorgeous mélange<br />
of rustic simplicity and minimal<br />
chic. The result is a bar-raiser for<br />
Alentejo. barrocal.pt<br />
5/7 Wine tourism is a growing<br />
trend in Alentejo. If HERDADE<br />
DO ESPORÃO, a 4,500 acre<br />
estate dating from 1267, is the<br />
region’s enoturismo pioneer (its<br />
in-house restaurant helmed by<br />
Carlos Teixeira being among the<br />
region’s finest), a more recent<br />
tendency involves mixing wine with<br />
art. QUINTA DO QUETZAL’s<br />
cutting-edge contemporary winery,<br />
owned by Dutch art collectors Cees<br />
and Inge de Bruin, boasts a 450<br />
sq m exhibition space and a cool<br />
modern restaurant. wesporao.com,<br />
quintadoquetzal.com<br />
6 Straddling the Spanish/<br />
Portuguese border over 60,000<br />
acres hectares, the ALQUEVA<br />
RESERVOIR is Europe’s largest<br />
artificial lake. Sailing, kayaking,<br />
and waterskiing can all be<br />
practiced here—head for the marina<br />
at AMIEIRA—while a gentle cruise<br />
gets you up close and personal<br />
with the lake’s wildlife and natural<br />
beauty. amieiramarina.com<br />
8 An historic property and now a<br />
country-house lodging, HERDADE<br />
DO TOURIL stands within sight<br />
and smell of the Atlantic Ocean. A<br />
collection of low-rise whitewashed<br />
buildings picked out in blue in the<br />
purest Alentejo style, the house<br />
is still run in hands-on fashion<br />
by Luis Leote Falcão, a scion of<br />
the Herdade’s original owners.<br />
herdadedotouril.com<br />
59 NetJets
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