Menir dos Almendres

As you follow the well-trodden (and well-worn!) path, with wired fences on either side of you, you get the feeling that you are simply being herded to something very pedestrian and unimpressive. The nearby farm buildings do nothing to allay you of your suspicions that you are wasting your time.

And then the fences fall away, and you step into the clearing. Above you on the slope of the hill, stands the very impressive Menir de Almendres. Towering above you, it reaches to the sky along with its neighbouring olive trees. It seems to mock the silos behind it. While they are much bigger than it is, there’s no way they’ll survive as long as it has.

This menir stands about 4.5 meters tall, and is about 1.4km away from the cromeleque, near the buildings of the farm. It is in line with the sunrise of the summer solstice, viewed from the cromeleque. There was another menir that was discovered in line with the winter solstice, but that menir was damaged and could not be erected. This menir was re-erected in modern times.

There are some very faint carvings on one face, near the top.

Location

The menir is just outside the town of Guadalupe, to the west of Évora. It is a short distance south of the main Lisboa-Évora road.

Access

The last 3 kilometers of road towards the menir is a dirt road, with heavy corrugations and water damage. It is passable by a normal passenger car, but care must be taken. There is a parking area at the end of the road, and the cromeleque is a short walk from there.

Signage

From the town of Guadalupe (and from the Lisboa-Évora road), there are good signposts directing traffic to the cromeleque and menir. (The menir is reached about 1 km before the cromeleque.)

Links

• Article (in English) from Visit Évora tourism website (scroll down to the menhir section)
• Entry (in English) in the Megalithic Portal
• Article (in Portuguese) from National Geographic Portugal – with a fascinating painting imagining the site being built
• Description (in Portuguese) from Archaeological Portal of Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage
• Designation (in Portuguese) as a National Monument by the Director-General of Cultural Heritage

Nearby

The Cromeleque dos Almendres is located about 1.4km away, along the same road from Guadalupe. The region is filled with many megalithic structures (antas/dolmens, menirs/menhirs, and cromeleques/cromlechs).

Information and tours can be arranged through Ebora Megalitica, which has an interpretation center at the beginning of the dirt road out of Guadalupe. There is also an interpretation center in the city of Évora, and the tourist office there can provide some maps and guides of the main megalithic sites of the area.