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Cuba

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Alvito

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Cuba

Ferreira do Alentejo

Mértola

Moura

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Ourique

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Vidigueira

| Pensions and Boarding Houses (3) | Manor & Farm Houses (1) | Resorts and Apartments (1) |

Conquered to the Moors by King Sancho I in the 12th century, the name of Cuba is thought to have come from the fact that the Christians found a lot of cubas there (vessels to store wine), but others think it has an even older origin and comes from the word coba (tower, in Arabic).

A typical Alentejo town, surrounded by olive trees, the houses are white-washed with doors and windows framed by blue or ochre trims and almost always with a small kitchen-garden at the back with orange, lemon and fig-trees. The windows and openings are small, to protect them against the torrid heat in Summer.

The town has several interesting churchs (such as the Mother Church dating from 1500), and is proud of its long tradition of cantares alentejanos (typical singing by choirs of men with no musical instruments).

Across the county, there are megalithic traces, such as the cromlechs near Vila Alva and the menhir at Horta dos Canos do Meio.

At Vila Ruiva, there is an interesting Roman bridge and the Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Conception, with a Manueline interior and frescoes from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.

Near this tiny town, on the road to Alvito, the curious Insectozoo, a museum and laboratory of social insects, also deserves a visit.

The county's gastronomy is typical of Alentejo, with excellent local ewe's milk cheeses, fragrant soups with garlic, olive oil and tomato, and plenty of pork and young lamb, always served with the inevitable Alentejo peasant loaf.

| Pensions and Boarding Houses (3) | Manor & Farm Houses (1) | Resorts and Apartments (1) |