Casa de Terena

Activities

• There’s no pool, but you can swim in the lake or head to Alandroal and its rather fancy outdoor public pool. There’s also a farmhouse hotel outside Terena which has a pool; if you buy a drink, you’re welcome to use it.
  
  
• If you don’t want to swim on the lake, you might like to canoe on it. Jeremy will take you down and send you on your way, then drive up the river gorge and leave a picnic up there for you. It takes a couple of hours to paddle up, you stop for a delicious lunch, then potter back down again. You may see locals fishing the lake, perhaps a shepherd on the hills, but that’ll be it. Or you can windsurf and fish. Brilliant.
  
  
• The same can be done with mountain bikes or for those who want to walk in the hills. Tracks lead deep into the country, you scoot off following a map, at midday you rendezvous with your lunch, sit in the shade of an olive tree and scoff Stella’s delights, then work off your indulgence on the dusty tracks that lead you home.
  
  
• If you want something a little more rugged, Jeremy can chauffeur you through the dirt tracks and river gorge in a 4x4. The back country here is fascinating. Ley lines run through the area. It was first settled in Neolithic times (3000 BC). One summit has exchanged hands regularly – Celts, Romans, Moors, Vandals and Christians – and if you look carefully outlines of ancient terraces can be seen. A temple to Cupid was built on one peak; even if nothing survives on this spot – locals have harvested its bounties over the centuries – the view up here is spectacular. And much survives elsewhere. 90 carved stone slabs ended up in National Archaeological Museum in Lisbon, bits and bobs were used to build the Santuário Boa Nova down the road, several slabs found their way to the staircase at Casa de Terena, and the bust of Cupid that stands by the castle in Terena is thought to be original. Jeremy knows his stuff and will bring lunch along.
  
  
• If you want something less hardy it can be arranged: visits to vineyards (you get to taste the local brew) or the cheese maker who supplies Lisbon’s best restaurants. There are 4 golf courses within an hour's drive, and pottery or cooking courses can be organised.
  
  
• Don’t miss Monsaraz, one of the area’s most beautiful hilltop towns; the graceful pomp of gorgeous Estremoz; a walk in the eucalyptus forest in the Serra de Ossa; the palace at Vila Viçoca, or sleepy Alandroal. Head south to the lake at Alqueva and swim, ski, sail.
  
  
• The border with Spain is about 3 kms as the crow flies. It is marked by the Guadiana River and a combination of driving and walking will take you to its shores. Seville is a two and a half hours by car.
  
  
• Spa treatments can take place at one of 3 locations all within an easy 20 minutes drive of the Casa.