Casas da Baronia offers a special, Portuguese village experience independent of tourists or the madding crowd. Life slows down for a bit, there - exactly what we wanted.
For us, not a thing was missing. The house is in excellent repair, spotlessly clean and un-cluttered (in Alentejo minimalist style). It is quiet, secure, and fully equipped for short or long stays. There are mountain bikes for those with the stamina to ride the hilly, rural terrain surrounding the village with a history dating from Roman soldiers building bridges, and more recently, from the 13th and 16th centuries.
The friendly, very kind property managers were quick to answer our questions and a friendship began before we left home. They were accessible, and helpful during our stay, even to letting me into the house about ten minutes after Someone closed the door and rode off with the house keys in his pocket!
The 90-min. train rides from Lisbon to and from the village went like clockwork. Changing at Casa Branca, we literally got off one train and onto the next within two minutes. João met us at the station and dropped us off when we left. Isabel helped us with train and bus schedules: no need of a car.
There are friendly services in the centre of the village, a 5-min. walk from the house, among them: the Loja d’Anica (the helpful Manuel and Katerina’s grocery), a pharmacy, a bakery, a patisserie, a few shops, restaurants offering traditional foods of the Alantejo, and café/bars.
The great benefit of not having wi-fi in the house (or a pool, or a car) was that we walked everywhere: to the town centre to check on email and news on free wi-fi in restaurants and café/bars, the library, and the town hall. We walked to the fish monger in Alvito; to the Ermidas (hermitages) of Santo Antonio, and Sant’ Águeda; to the Roman bridge, past barking mastiffs, sheep, goats, dairy cows, chickens, roosters and geese; past allotment gardens, olive orchards and vineyards, cork trees, lemon, lime, and orange groves; past pomegranate, fig, and walnut trees, bougainvillea and birds of paradise, and fragrant oregano and rosemary.
Relatively nearby, the larger centres of Alvito, Viana do Alantejo, Béja, and Évora (a Unseco Heritage site) offer excellent opportunities to experience the Portugal of the Alantejo region, if you can leave the Casas da Baronia - if you can resist the urge to just enjoy the pleasures of staying right where you are.