Estremoz Saturday Market and Castle Tour

The Saturday market in Estremoz is pure Europe. Vegetables, fruit, bread, marinated olives and all sorts of cured meats and sausages are for sale at this weekly market. Vendors line the streets with their small booths bloated with all kinds of goodies. You can even buy live chickens. And just to make it even better, there’s also an antique market selling everything from tiles to lamps. This is one of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning.

Estremoz is such a beautiful old town, just a 30 minute drive from our house in Sao Miguel da Machede. If you’re visiting on market day, it’s best to park outside the town walls. This is a fortified town with a castle, so of course there must be walls to protect it. We usually park on the road near the Teatro Bernardim Ribeiro, which is a beautiful neighborhood with interesting architecture, and just walk into town (10 minute walk).

Speaking of fortified, you can’t do all that shopping without first stopping for coffee and a pastry. Lots to choose from but we’ll typically stop at Pastelaria Formosa which is on the perimeter of the town square.

I like to start my shopping at the antiques section of the market. Don’t want someone else to find that special something before I do.

Then it’s off to the vegetable market for supplies for our Saturday night diner and items for the week.

On this trip we bought sausages, a variety of cheeses, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini. Nothing exotic but there are tons of options if you want to get creative. Lots of indoor and outdoor flowers and plants as well.

After all that shopping, it’s time for lunch. We head to my favorite place is Estremoz called Casa do Gadanha. It’s just a short walk from the town center heading towards the castle. Lots of great food and wine. I decide to have a glass of branco (white wine) called Alento from the Adega do Monte Branco in Estremoz. It’s one of my favorites from the region. Paired with an herb and cheese pizza cooked in their pizza oven.

Following lunch we head up the hill towards the castle for amazing views from the tower. On our way up the hill we stop into a great antique shop called Antiguidades Nunes. They sell all kinds of wonderful antiques but the large vessels outside is what really caught my eye. We’ll be back soon to grab a few of these beauties to put in various places around the house. One of them will definitely be placed at the end of the hall in the bedroom wing at the house.

Arriving at the hilltop we take in the surrounding area which includes the castle (Castelo de Estremoz) and church (Igreja de Santa Maria). The castle is actually attached to a lovely hotel called Pousada Castelo Estremoz. You’ll need to pay a couple of euros to access the castle and you can also tour the hotel grounds if you like.

Castelo de Estremoz

Below are views from the top of Castelo de Estremoz. From the top of a castle tower, you really get a sense of the vastness of the countryside and all the farmland. It’s really spectacular and worth the climb (if you don’t mind ancient spiral staircases). I stayed up here for a long time just enjoying the views and peacefulness.

After coming down from the castle we stop into the hotel to stroll through the gardens and then head to the Igreja de Santa Maria church across the courtyard.

It’s now time to head back down to the antique market to pick up the bowls I purchased earlier in the day. What a great day spent in Estremoz. We’ll be back in November to pick up a selection of pumpkins for Fall decorating.