Estoi

The Ruin was closed...

It was the 1st of May, a beautiful day and Denise wasn’t playing golf. I had looked for car-boot/antique sales, as we continue to search for unique items for our future home. But I came up short. Instead, I found a town with a Rococo palace, gardens, and a Roman ruin. Estoi might be an interesting excursion.

A beautiful palace is now a hotel. Note the pool umbrellas upper left.

Another Holiday

If you hop on the toll road, Estoi is a 40-minute drive from VRSA. North of Olhão and just a bit east of Faro; we exited the highway and followed IP1 to Estoi. Just outside of town we saw a billboard for their annual festival…just our luck it was scheduled for the next day¹. Given I was still in my post-surgery shoe at the time (which I am pleased to report is no longer required), I had mapped our route before leaving the house. Our plan was to park near the ruins, check them out, and then hoof it into town. We would take in the palace and gardens and perhaps have a bit of brunch before walking back.

We have been in Portugal for 17 months now…so I should know better! Of course, 1 May is an official holiday in Portugal! The ruins were closed. Now why, you may ask, is the 1st of May an official Portuguese holiday. There are actually two very different reasons to celebrate Primeiro de Maio:

1. Dia do Trabalhador (Workers’ Day) - is roughly the equivalent of Labor Day in the States. However, it has a slightly different bent in that organized demonstrations against working conditions were repressed during the Salazar/Caetano regimes.

2. Start of Spring - and a time “for protecting homes from evil for the year ahead”.

We found this display of maias outside of a church.

Maias

We left the gated ruined Roman Villa of Milreu in search of a palace. Along the way, we found houses with what I would describe as slender palm fronds on either side of the door. Later, when doing research for this post, I learned that they were maias: “an autochthonous species with the scientific name Cytisus striatus, became known, in English, as Portuguese Broom.” This must be part of the “protecting the home” custom I had read about.

Homeowners protect their homes.

We also passed adorable, life-size dolls propped on doorsteps and on balconies. It turns out that “maia” is the term used to describe straw-filled dolls…scarecrows without the stick up their back. At first, we saw a single doll on a doorstep.

It had a comical sign … perhaps because we could not understand the full meaning. For example, we read the one above to say:

Viva May, Viva May

With a little luck

I try to get up, but I fall down

I can't go to collect the pinecones

Pinecones in May? Clearly, we are missing something in the translation. Native Portuguese speakers … please help us out!

Denise reads a sign on the sassy doll’s dress

Others offered social commentary. The sign on the woman above said:

It's been 2 years since I've worked

Because of the pandemic

I signed up for Big Brother

To get some company

This family had a lot to say!

While others offered political commentary, including:

48 years since the 25th of April passed

Our life is like this

Who would say

That our old age would have

Only a park bench

In May we had elections

In the village there is no joy

No decisions are made

To improve the parish

Of course there are stairs!

Of Course, There are Churches

During our visit to Estoi, we visited two lovely churches. We also went into the hotel lobby of the Pousada Palácio Estói, which is built within the rococo palace pictured at the top of this post. I had hoped they might have a public restaurant but found it was only available for guests.

Nice lobby!

We happened upon a street that for a moment made us think we were in Lisbon.

Did I mention there were stairs?

Observed manicured gardens.

This garden is closed on Sunday, but we spied it through the locked gate.

And less manicured ones with ancient gates in the distance.

The old and the new…

So, no, this day did not go exactly as planned … but isn’t that part of the adventure?

1. We learned from a shop owner that on 2 May men in the village would descend on Olhão to drink beer. At 21:00ish they would get on horseback, carrying lit torches, and ride to Estoi. (Seems like a sensible thing to do after drinking all day.) They would arrive at the church at about 22:00 and sing and dance around a bonfire. The party goes on well into the night. (Don’t these people know we are in bed by ten.) There is a historical significance to this event. It celebrates the treacherous journey on horseback that men would make to deliver goods to Alentejo.