Handiwork

While I've been systematically documenting each castle town and landmark close to where I live I haven't been as good at showing you the crafts of the Alentejo. If you visit I always make sure you see the traditional painted plates of the region whether it's just in the souvenir shops of Evora or the trip out to the actual workshops in "Plate Town" (Sao Pedro do Corval). The plates are painted either with simple designs in blue, "still-lifes" of olives and grapes or paintings of idyllic rustic scenes (which seem to include several not-so-calm hunting scenes!). These days more plates are made with designs which ignore tradition like team logos or Noddy plates!

The other traditional art which Alentejanos are proud of is the woven tapestries and rugs of Arraiolos which decorate palaces up and down the country. Once again the traditional design is a symmetrical, simple pattern; any hints of yellow imply a Spanish influence and idyllic rural scenes or tapestries showing important historical scenes have come in and out of fashion. We got this one last weekend - we love it partly because it has 2 dogs, a deer, a wild pig, a castle and a horse but I have to point out that its asymmetrical and therefore not traditional!! Ah well.
On looking back I was sure I had a post with some photos of Arraiolos but apparently I never shared them. This is the church inside the castle walls, there are some more town shots on Flickr.