Let’s start this with a very, very, very tiny village in Portugal, in south of it, Alentejo, called Minas de S. Domingos.
Alentejo it’s in the middle, between Lisbon and Algarve. It’s so hot and depopulated that some of our governants call it desert. Whatever, it’s in the district of Beja and it’s easier if you go by car, with the help of GPS. Belive, transportations to this place are very hard to find and can be very dramatic.
So, this village is a village with a history of mining exploration.
In 1858, begins the modern exploration of the mine, on the initiative of the mining company “Mason & Barry” an english company.
The principal objetive was to extract gold, silver and copper. The jobs continued until this materials ended, in 1965. The mine was closed and the mining village went in to decline because the job posts were missing to people.
CURIOSITY: Was the first village to have electric power in Portugal.
For now, it’s a ruined village that we can come and visit and enjoy this
scenario:
After exploring the mines, you can enjoy the river beach of Tapada Grande.
It’s a very beutiful beach with a nice water temperature were you can refresh. You’ll need to know that Alentejo, in the summer, can go up to 45ºC. Be carefull, it’s necessary to hydrate, use fresh clothes and use a good sun protector to avoid sun burns.
So, again to the beach, it has a lifeguard and a snack-bar/restaurant were you can have ligth meals and drink something. TripAdvisor here: River Beach Tapada Grande
Here, you can see some photos:
If you want to enjoy some local food. In the middle of the town, you can have really good food for a very chaep price. We usualy in a local restaurant that, I go since I was a kid with my grandparents and my parents (from my father side, they are from Alentejo so it’s a place that I know very well) it calls Casa de Pasto “A Taberna” (TripAdvisor Here) and eat something called “Cozido de Grão”:
You can see more about this in roteirodeminas. It’s the oficial website of mines in Portugal and you can read it in Portugues, English and Spanish.
Hope that you enjoy this post.
You can see our photos in Instagram: routingtheworld01.
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Routing the World
Routing The World 