Monsaraz, Lake Alqueva and a sky without lights.

What can you see in Monsaraz?

Monsaraz is a single walled hill: you leave the car below, by the gate, and walk round it in a couple of hours. Two cobbled streets of white houses run from the village gate to the castle, at the far end, from whose walls you see the lake, the plain and, across the water, Spain. The village changed hands several times in the 12th century and became definitively Portuguese in 1232, under Sancho II and the Templars; later it was strengthened with walls for artillery.

Along the way, a stop is worthwhile at the Fresco Museum, in the old Paços de Audiência, with the painting of the good and the bad judge, the parish church, the pillory and the cistern. At sunset the light sets straight ahead over the lake: climb the wall an hour earlier.

What is there to do on Lake Alqueva?

The Alqueva reservoir flooded the Guadiana valley at the foot of Monsaraz and left the village overlooking the water. Below, in the old Moinho do Gato, is the Monsaraz Nautical Centre with the river beach, the first on the lake, with a Blue Flag and accessible for people with reduced mobility. It has a jetty and ramp, parking, showers, a children's area and a picnic area. The supervised bathing season runs from June to September, with dates set each year by the council.

Beside the Orada convent, at the foot of the hill, is the Xerez cromlech: 55 granite monoliths in an almost square layout around a central menhir of 3.6 m. It was in the Herdade do Xerez, in the area the reservoir was going to flood, and in 1998 it was excavated again and moved here. It is open air and can be seen in a short while.

How can you see the stars?

Monsaraz is at the centre of Dark Sky Alqueva, the first destination in the world certified as a Starlight Tourism Destination. The area covers more than 10,000 km² around the lake, in eleven Portuguese municipalities and several Spanish ones. With little light pollution, on moonless nights the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye.

Guided sessions are held at the official observatory, in the hamlet of Cumeada, in the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz. They last about 1 hr 15 min, start about an hour after sunset, run from Tuesday to Saturday and must be booked. They cost €30 per person from May to September and €25 from October to April; children from 8 to 12 pay €10 and under-7s do not pay. Each night there is one session in Portuguese and another in English. If the weather is bad, they cancel it or move it.

What is there around it?

São Pedro do Corval, a few kilometres away, is Portugal's largest pottery centre, with more than twenty workshops in operation. You can watch the potter at the wheel and buy hand-painted plates and jugs. For Alentejo cooking and the local wine, Reguengos de Monsaraz is the nearest large town. Évora is about 55 km away, less than an hour.

How do you get there from Spain?

Monsaraz is about 90 km from Badajoz, an hour and a half by car; from Seville it is about 230 km and from Madrid about 500 km. From Lisbon it is about 190 km. There is no train nearby and the observatory, the beach and the menhirs are outside the village: a car is almost essential. Only residents may drive inside the wall.