Travel with a Purpose

History and Archeology

Have you thought about making your next trip around a theme? Mythology? History or archeology?

I have come to a point in life where I don’t feel like I have to go to major touristic points. I have the pleasure of being a little selfish and I only see what I want and how I want to see things. It’s taken me a long time to be able to do that.

I have had a passion for megalithic stones ever since I was very young and I do have to admit that Asterix was a huge influence in this interest of mine! If you haven’t read any of those books do get one. They are well illustrated, historically incorrect but with a lot of correct things too and have a lot about stones, mythology and they are just a lot of fun.

Planning your trip

• Choose your special history, archeology or cultural interests.

• Find out if there will be special events.

• Schedule your special events along with the usual sightseeing.

• Get lost

Alentejo, Portugal

The Alentejo is an area that has many megalithic stones. Some of them are very hard to find because they are off the dirt roads and signs are rare while others are inside private properties. There are some small towns that offer tours and they might have permission to enter the properties and they will know how to get to the ones with difficult access. There are some that are fairly easy to find too!

The Anta da Herdade de Candeeira

This is a burial site that was discoverd by Gabriel Pereira. It is inside a private property and the owners used to allow the public to visit it but it seems that they had some issues and now it’s closed to the public. I feel very lucky that I saw it and spent some time photographing it.

Getting there

I drove to the Aldeia da Serra which is a small village off a gorgeous and narrow winding road surrounded by olive trees and cattle ranches. Waze took me off this road to some other beautiful places and got me lost several times. I lost connection with Waze several times and just getting there was an adventure.

When I arrived at the Aldeia da Serra I asked for instructions on how to get to the site and a lovely and kind lady proceeded to give me directions and pointing all over and so I thanked her and left feeling very confused. I decided that I would just keep trying.

Getting Lost

I turned off the main road as soon as I saw the sign with the archeological icon.  The road was narrow and I drove up a hill. When I got to the top I had to stop. There were two new possibilities and no signs.  There was a road to the left and the other one went straight up the hill. I chose to go straight up the hill.  A huge Alentejano dog appeared from nowhere and ran after my car. I slowed down to look at his gigantic thing and hoped that I never had to have an encounter with him.

Thin dust covered the back window of the car. The dirt road was softer and my car slid slightly. I decided to turn around and I met up with the Alentejo dog again who ran beside me and this time barked ferociously.  I was obviously in his territory.

I saw a man walking towards a pigeon house and I stopped the car and got out to ask for directions.  Four dogs came over and surrounded me; they barked non-stop and I stood motion-less.  I was beginning to thing that all I was going to see on this road trip was a bunch of crazy dogs. The man walked towards me while he waved the dogs away and he showed me where the site was.

I could actually see the burial site. It was only one hill away. So nearby. So far away! I drove and drove and drove some more but I could not find the little road to that hill with the burial.

On one of my U-turns I saw a sign and it must have fallen or something …Anways… I went towards that direction and found the narrow and lovely road to the burial site.

Burial Site

It’s all about the Journey

The burial site is surrounded by rolling hills and the trees next to it provided me with some shade on the hot summer day. I walked around it and saw a hole in the back of the structure.

I found out that the hole is called the Buraco da Alma. The hole for the soul.  Very poetic. Some people believe that the hole was there so that when they burnt the body the soul would leave through it. The truth is that no one really knows why the hole is there.

Buraco da Alma (Hole for the Soul)

Marguerite

Links for you

Anta da Candeeira