Attractions and Places To See around Vidigueira - Top 17

A historic parish, very old, in 1257, when D. João Peres de Aboim arrived here, the Monastery of Vera Cruz probably already existed. It is the oldest monument in the municipality and owes its fame to the Relic of the Holy Wood, brought by a knight after the Seventh Crusade. Like the vast majority of inland Alentejo villages, it has been losing inhabitants. In 1960, it had over a thousand inhabitants; today, it has less than four hundred.

Cuba is a Portuguese town in the Beja District, Alentejo region, and Baixo Alentejo subregion. It is the seat of the municipality of Cuba, which has an area of 172.09 km² and a population of 4,471, subdivided into four parishes. Source: Wikipedia

Andreas is a fake, a fake fifty

The "Esteva" (Cistus ladanifer, gum rock rose or cistus rose) covers the mountains and valleys in spring with millions of beautiful, sweet-smelling white flowers. The flower itself is delicate and beautiful, but the evergreen it grows on is tough and shaggy with sticky branches and leaves. It is a plant from the rock rose family (Cistaceae) that grows in dry, rocky places where nothing else wants to grow and can grow up to 2 meters high. The sticky resin is labdanum, a highly aromatic resin. This resin protects the plant from the harsh and dry climate and it also inhibits the growth of competing plants in its environment. Because of this last characteristic you often find entire hills overgrown with Esteva. Esteva grows on acidic, non-calcareous soils, made of shale, granite and quartz. It is a very fast-growing pioneer plant that is a good biological indicator of soil degradation due to, for example, overgrazing or constant fires, as it is one of the first plants to appear in the space where oaks once grew. In the past, charcoal was extracted from the root of the Esteva, which is extremely hard and woody. This wood was also traditionally used to fire bread ovens. It is still great good wood to start a hot fire with. In moist soil it is not so difficult to pry the plants root and all out of the soil. Because this plant is full of resin and oil, it's best to make sure it doesn't grow within at least 50 meters of your home and other buildings.

Cuba is a small town of less than 5,000 people in the Alentejo region. This is a rural, agricultural area where grapes and grains are harvested. Cork is also a big industry.

The Alentejo cante is a traditional musical genre from the Alentejo, Portugal. The cante is more typical of the Lower Alentejo than of the Upper Alentejo. Its repetitive characteristics, as well as its slow tempo and abundance of pauses, contribute to its monotonous nature. UNESCO has considered the Alentejo cante to be Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is a choral song, in which a solo point and a choir alternate, with an alto filling the pauses and finishing the stanzas. The song invariably begins with a point giving the cue, giving way to the alto and then the choir, in which the point and the alto also participate, intervene. Once the stanzas are finished, the point can start again with a new cue, followed by the same set of stanzas. This cycle is repeated as many times as the participants wish. This repetitive characteristic, as well as the slow tempo and abundance of pauses, contribute to the monotonous nature of the chant. (Wikipedia) https://youtu.be/Uz7q8XUxeZ0?si=LXYJXJG10NV6VOVo

Cuba is one of the places that call Christopher Columbus a son of their city. On January 10, 2008, the film by veteran explorer Manoel de Oliveira, Christopher Columbus: The Enigma in Cuba, had its commercial premiere. Using numerous historical clues, the film explores the theory that Columbus, an illegitimate offspring of the Portuguese royal family, was born and raised in Cuba. This is also why he named the largest island he discovered after his hometown (Source: Wikipedia).

There is always a huge celebration in September