After a generous breakfast at the Pousada, Papa and I walked about Arraiolos, a white village that traces its history back to Neolithic times (as early as 4th millennium BC). King Dinis granted the first charter to Arraiolos ordered construction of the castle in 1305. The King lived in the castle and in 1387, it became home to the Second Count of Arraiolos. The castle walls remain, with a church in standing in the middle of the expanse. Arraiolos is also known for its tapestries, with lots of local women weaving them, and a Tapestry Museum in the town square.
We drove through undulating countryside, dotted with olive groves and pastures of cattle grazing under numbered cork oak trees. Cork is harvested every nine years, so they are marked with the number of their last harvest. We got the attention of over 1000 sheep grazing in a pasture with a large ruin. We stopped in the village of Pavia to see the dolmen chapel and we walked to the Igreja Matiz São Paulo, built in the early 16th century.
We continued on, making a big circle, and driving through more olive groves and cork oaks, until Papa saw a dolmen on the side of the road. We drove past to turn around, and found a large map on a sign, showing over 100 dolmen and other megaliths in the area. We saw three dolmen near the sign and drove through cow pastures looking for more. Our big find of the day was The Great Dolmen of Comenda da Igreja. We drove around in circles before we found a gate that we drove through and into a pasture. We got out and walked through two more gates, about a half mile, to the Great Dolmen - 13’ wide and 33’ long, on a slight hill. The Great Dolmen is believed to have been built between the 4th and 3rd millennium BC, and was made a Portuguese Patrimonial Cultural site in 1936.
The clouds of morning gave way to more blue sky and the day got prettier as it wore on. Our last stop of the day was at an old horse farm we noticed yesterday as we drove to Arraiolos. We walked around the exterior, large and elaborate, but in serious disrepair. It was a grand place in its time, but probably too large to maintain by local ranchers. We enjoyed imagining it in its heyday!
