Portugal - A Walk To Remember

Portugal’s craggy, coastal Alentejo region challenges hikers who trade sweat for sunsets

- Debashree Majumdar

The night still holds its grip over Lisbon at six a.m., as does the biting cold, on an April morning when we walk into the bus depot to catch our ride to Alentejo, a region that extends along southern and southwestern Portugal. My husband and I are focussed on the southwest. Our plan is to walk over three days across deserted trails by the Atlantic and through sparsely populated villages that sit away from the coastline. We board the deluxe bus, and are soon on our way, hearts filling with the thrill of witnessing the slow peeling of a new land, and a new set of people with ways of living so distinct from what I’ve left behind in India, or even the big-city bustle of Lisbon. The bus to Vila Nova Milfontes, three and a half hours from Lisbon, is packed to the brim with hikers and tourists set to celebrate Easter by the ocean. The surprising thing about Lisbon is how quickly one can reach the deep countryside. Within minutes of crossing the Vasco da Gama Bridge—longest in Europe and stretching like a river of concrete and steel over of an estuary of the Tagus river—one enters the sometimes dreamy, sometimes ruinous Alentejo. Alentejo, we learn, translates to ‘the land beyond the Tagus,’ which turns out to be the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula, locally known as Tejo.

The driver and the conductor keep up a constant stream of conversation on the journey and play old Michael Jackson hits on the radio. The sound of Portuguese, mingling with MJ’s quick beats and upbeat lyrics creates an endearing, almost lyrical atmosphere—enough to make me switch off the music playing on my phone. Adjusting to slow-stripping sunlight all around, my eyes briefly register passing villages and swathes of empty land where cork oaks grow in clumps, their cropped crowns swaying in the chilly breeze.

LAND BEYOND THE RIVER