Where vineyards and spectacular scenery is everywhere!

Wonderful hilly region, great views.

We went to the Palacio de Mateus.
Wow!
Absolutely stunning.
So hard to describe this.
It was simply amazing.
You walk down the tree lined driveway and the vista of this beautiful house appears in front of you.
Twice.
Because there is the perfect reflection of the house in the huge lake in front of it.
We were there on a spectacular sunny day.
Tiago grabbed us all and arranged us on the rock wall of the lake to take a group photo with the house, the reflection and us.
Absolutely stunning spot.

Then we were off to wander the gardens.
And they are so old.
And so beautiful.

The Palacio de Mateus is depicted on the label of the distinctive Mateus wine bottles.

From the Internet:

Famously depicted on bottles of Mateus rosé, the 18th-century Casa de Mateus is one of Portugal’s great baroque masterpieces – probably the work of Italian-born architect Nicolau Nasoni. Guided tours of the mansion (in English, French, Spanish and German) take you through the main quarters, which combine rusticity with restrained grandeur.

Its granite wings shelter a lichen-encrusted forecourt dominated by an ornate stairway and guarded by rooftop statues. Surrounding the palace is a fantasy of a garden, with tiny boxwood hedges, prim statues and a fragrant cypress tunnel that’s blissfully cool on even the hottest days.

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Very formal gardens.
Wonderful, wonderful view to the house over the lake, letting you get all the reflections.

Amazing old, old, enormous trees.
Loved the Cedar Tunnel!
Absolutely stunning place to wander.

After the rather reluctant walk back up the driveway to leave, you pass through a stone archway, which is the entrance.
Just outside this is an older man sitting at a card table twisting and turning wire to make miniature bicycles.
I stopped to talk to him for a while, bought one, tried to give him the wrong money.
We had a great chat.

Great place.