Museu do Fresco: Self-Guided Audio Tours

This isn't the Monsaraz from the postcards. This self-guided audio tour is the Monsaraz no one tells you about. Everyone comes for the castle and the view over Lake Alqueva. Few stop to look at the round hole in the wall on Rua de Santiago. Few know that the most beautiful church in town was once blessed facing a lagoon that no longer exists. In 10 stops, I'll show you the Monsaraz that made me stay and build my life between Lisbon and Alentejo. A village that was Roman, Moorish, and Templar. Where the Inquisition burned women for knowing which herb could cure a fever. Where a bricklayer covered a fresco of the Last Judgment with a fake wall to save it. Where prisoners carved "Antonio, for love" in 1587 and counted the days one by one. An eagle's nest village that never fell by force, only by hunger. And that hides, beneath the largest lake in Europe, the secret of two entire villages submerged underwater. We start in front of the great stone arch of Porta da Vila. When you walk through it, don't touch the wall. They say it brings good luck