White houses
Climbing flowers.
Nmmacedo — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie from London, UK — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Nmmacedo — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie from London, UK — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Nmmacedo — CC BY-SA 3.0
Monsaraz is a walled hilltop village in the Alentejo in southeastern Portugal, on the right bank of the Guadiana River near the Spanish border. It lies about 49 km in a straight line from Évora. Its high position gave the hill an important place in the region's history, and it is one of the oldest settlements in southern Portugal, inhabited since prehistoric times. Hundreds of Neolithic megalithic monuments surround it, including the Xerez stone circle and the Bulhoa menhir, and Roman, Arab and other cultures passed through over the centuries. Lanes paved with dark stone run between low, brilliant white houses with wooden doors, stone frames and pink climbing flowers on the walls. A small castle stands at one end of the village, and from its windows the wide blue Alqueva reservoir and olive plains come into view. The village is small and can be walked in an hour or two, with cars left outside the walls. The megaliths in the surrounding countryside can be reached by car.
Climbing flowers.
At the village's end.
From the windows.
Monsaraz, Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal
No, cars stay outside the walls.
The Xerez circle and Bulhoa menhir.