One of our favourite Portuguese villages is Marvão, a quaint cobbled maze of houses nestled on a craggy hilltop, complete with medieval castle, in the Alto Alentejo. We first starting visiting Marvão more than a decade ago but we've never visited the famous annual 'feira das castanhas', or chestnut festival. This takes place at the beginning of November - the typical season for harvesting chestnuts - and this year we went!
The festival has been going on for at least the last 40 years and as well as showcasing and selling all kinds of chestnut products (as well as the nuts themselves - fresh and roasted - there was flour, cakes, sausages, and even beer and gin!), it's a celebration of local culture and music.
It goes on over a weekend, and we arrived late morning on the Sunday. Warning - this is when many other people also arrived and we had to park a long way from the village. There are buses laid on in a park and ride system, but as it was a beautiful autumn day, we opted to walk, using the old Roman track, and enjoyed half an hour of crunching through oak and chestnut leaves for a couple of kilometres on our way up to the village walls.
The smell of chestnuts roasting over fire and the sounds of traditional folk music (in both cases, by people in traditional costumes) filled the air, and the views, as always, were breathtaking. The entrance fee of 1.50 also includes visiting the castle. We left the festival laden with chestnut goods and artisanal products, as well as a promise to return next year.
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