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Barona Craft Beer House
0.3 mi from the city centre · Castelo de Vide · Portugal
Castelo de Vide, the 'Sintra do Alentejo'
Castelo de Vide is known as the 'Sintra do Alentejo' for its gardens, greenery and mild climate near the Serra de São Mamede. Read on for a medieval Jewish quarter with a synagogue museum, a marble fountain, walls built by three kings and the wool trade that named its people.
0 breweries · 1 venue
Castelo de Vide is a border town in the Alto Alentejo, in the district of Portalegre, close to the Serra de São Mamede. Its gardens, greenery, mild climate and proximity to the serra earned it the nickname "Sintra do Alentejo", attributed to King Pedro V. The town became a municipality in its own right in 1276, when it broke away from Marvão. Afonso Sanches, son of Afonso III, began the walls, his brother Dinis rebuilt them from scratch, and they were completed under Afonso IV; the keep is believed to date from the 14th century. Manuel I granted the town a charter in 1512.
On the eastern slope grew the Jewish quarter, which already existed in the 14th century. After the expulsion of the Jews from Castile and Aragon, many settled here, close to the border. At the corner of Rua da Judiaria and Rua da Fonte stands the building known as the Sinagoga, the Beit-ha-Midrasch-Sefardin, with three pointed doorways and a groove for the mezuzah. It was bought by the town council and opened as a museum in April 2009, telling the story of the Jewish community, Garcia de Orta and the diaspora. Nearby, the 16th-century Fonte da Vila, listed as a property of public interest since 1953, has a rectangular basin and six marble columns holding up a pyramidal roof; studies of the Jewish quarter's boundaries suggest it once lay within it.
Wool spinning became so important from the late 15th century that locals were nicknamed "Cardadores", or carders. After 1640, the War of Restoration brought a new ring of bastioned walls, begun in 1641, and in 1710 a new fort on the hill of São Roque. From the mid-20th century tourism grew around the town's many mineral springs. The liberal statesman Mouzinho da Silveira was born here in 1780.
Craft beer in Castelo de Vide is a rare find among the fountains and whitewashed lanes of the Alto Alentejo. Keep an eye out for something local after a walk through the Jewish quarter.
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Bars in Castelo de Vide
Frequently asked questions
The nickname, attributed to King Pedro V, comes from its gardens, greenery, mild climate and closeness to the Serra de São Mamede. Castelo de Vide is a border town in the Alto Alentejo, in the district of Portalegre, and became a municipality in its own right in 1276, when it broke away from Marvão.
The quarter, on the eastern slope, already existed in the 14th century and grew after Jews expelled from Castile and Aragon settled here. A building known as the synagogue, with three pointed doorways and a groove for the mezuzah, opened as a museum in 2009, telling the story of the community, Garcia de Orta and the diaspora.
It is a 16th-century fountain with a rectangular basin and six marble columns holding up a pyramidal roof, listed as a property of public interest since 1953. It stands near the old synagogue, and studies of the Jewish quarter's boundaries suggest it once lay within the quarter itself.
The medieval walls were begun by Afonso Sanches, rebuilt by King Dinis and completed under Afonso IV. After 1640 the War of Restoration brought bastioned walls and, in 1710, a fort on São Roque hill. Wool spinning earned locals the nickname 'Cardadores', and tourism grew around its many mineral springs.