A gastronomic festival that never stops
The Nobel Prize for Literature José Saramago dreamed of Portugal and Spain merging in a single nation called Iberia. Without a doubt, they are two countries that are twinned in countless things, even maintaining their own identity.
Empty Spain is one of the most commented and analyzed terms in recent times and also the fantasy of a generation increasingly weary of the demands of city life.
The book ** Los asquerosos de Santiago Lorenzo ** reflects it perfectly. It could well have been set in the Portugal empty, that treasures jewels willing to reveal the hidden potential of regions such as Alentejo.
A hotel where you can forget about the hustle and bustle of the city
Santiago Cooking & Nature is a perfect hotel for urbanites who need to forget the daily life of Lisbon (or Madrid or ), but also a place full of soul and true local flavor. What it is about is that you sneak into the kitchen.
Situated in Santiago do Cacem , 150 kilometers from the Portuguese capital and only 18 from the coast, staying in it means much more than finding relaxation in a hotel with a swimming pool and cozy decoration. His motto says it all: 'Make Food, Not War' (Make food, not war).
This place is a gastronomic festival that never stops. Every day of the week you find a free activity different from the previous one: a barista materclass for explore the world of coffee, a course that discovers new techniques to cut the food you cook or a smoothie workshop.
Discover the taste of the Portuguese Alentejo
They are the workers of the place who teach them, including the chef, so it is an opportunity to put a face to the people who make your vacation possible.
Here, occupying a hotel room ceases to be an impersonal experience and by the time you check out you will greet more than one of them by name.
The calendar of workshops can be consulted on their website several weeks in advance, so you have to be on the lookout for Ask for a place before they run out.
'Make Food, Not War'
There is also a poster of paying activities that raise the stakes. They almost always include three-course dinner that you have often cooked yourself with the help of the experts, so its price (45 euros per person) seems more than reasonable.
You don't know it yet, but **celebrating the night of Ofyr outdoors ** is one of the best things that can happen to your gastronomic life. This innovative model of barbecue In addition to being a design prodigy (he looks like a statue of Chillida), he is a multitasker and cooks at different temperatures. He is the star of one of his most popular activities.
For a couple of hours, the chef will take care of giving you turks to marinate and grill. Not even the best YouTube tutorial is going to beat it and, furthermore, you're rarely going to eat so much and so healthy with 0 kilometer products.
The workers themselves teach the workshops and activities of the hotel
It is not necessary to leave Santiago Cooking & Nature to be entertained. But not doing so would be a mistake: you would lose the best of the portuguese countryside and it is something that the people of this hotel do not want to happen. They even lend you the bike so you can do it.
Their collaboration with local businesses makes its range of experiences ever more ambitious. They already plan excursions for the summer that take up the whole day.
In the morning you go fishing, you navigate the waters near Santiago do Cacém with professional fishermen from the area and return to the hotel with your loot to prepare your own dinner.
And if you want to spend an afternoon at the beach, write down these names: Porto Covo, Sao Torpes and Santo Andre.
foodie's paradise
But do not forget that the possibilities are almost endless: visits to the local market and even to their nearby orchards to find out where the dishes on the menu of your restaurant come from, a tour of the Alentejo vineyards or a visit to a pig farm.
Is it necessary to go to a pig farm to find inner peace? You do not even imagine it. In addition to meeting a good handful of animals raised in freedom, there is the tiny and prodigious distillery of the Black Pig brand of gin.
Before the obligatory tasting, it is discovered the traditional process of making this drink wearing nothing less than arbutus , that tree that almost all of us know in the form of a statue of the Puerta del Sol in Madrid. We already warned you that here you were not going to miss the city...
It's about you sneaking up to the kitchen