Never underestimate breakfast. Especially if it's like this one from Herdade Malhadinha
Oil, bread, cheese, coffee... At first sight there is almost no difference with our Mediterranean awakening; it is not surprising. The Alentejo at a first glance is so similar to our beautiful Extremadura ; but, when you contemplate those fields of cork oaks and olive trees combing a landscape of gentle mountains and ocean winds, when you get lost in its white villages with stone floors and women weaving in the sun... you realize that both worlds are so different.
The Alentejo is that corner of Portugal that separates Lisbon from the Algarve . A piece of land that borders the aforementioned Extremadura on one side and the sea on the other. It is the land of countrymen, of cities with history, of absolutely fascinating lunar landscapes. It is a land of bread, oil, wine, wheat, cork... It is a land of the sea, hippy beaches, beach bars with grilled fish and places where silence lives . In short, the Alentejo is that unknown and wonderful corner of Portugal where it is worth getting lost in order to find yourself later when you wake up.
It's seven in the morning. The vineyards that surround the ** Herdade Malhadinha hotel ** have a pinkish color at this hour. Do you remember that you are in this beautiful place, that yesterday you looked out at sunset and in that 'first glance' you came across a huge family farm where pigs graze freely in meadows full of acorns, where vines grow dressed towards the mother's house, where the mares ride on wheat plains, where a charming little hotel lives on top of its gentle mountain.
Here you are, in this hotel. Only ten rooms, a spa, a market cuisine restaurant, a winery where four family wines are made, and the aforementioned pigs, horses, cows... and silence. Here only the song of nature interrupts the thought. Life in this large estate dawns when the sun rises and that is when in the living room-library, next to an open kitchen, a very special breakfast with a flavor of the land is assembled: different breads, sausages, homemade jams, eggs and the famous Alentejo cheese cake.
Breakfast is taken slowly knowing that afterwards what you have to do is a bubble bath in the hotel spa and, later, it will be time to get lost in the twenty-seven hectares of vines , a prelude to what, if one allows, will be a splendid family wine tasting in the middle of the afternoon.
Cheeses, nuts, bread of any cereal... so as not to get up with desire