A Rainbow of Color – the Villages of the Alentejo in Southern Portugal. (Spoiler Alert: Lots of Photos!)

Updated June 2022

After spending some time in the southwest corner of Portugal exploring the beauty of the ancient port towns of Lagos and Faro, I headed north from the Algarve to the Alentejo region of Portugal to hike parts of the Rota Vincentina, a little-known long-distance trail along the spectacular Portuguese coast I had just heard about while in Ronda – read about that spectacular hike here. 

My Frenchman joined me, and we spent 2 nights in the quiet village of Vila Nova de Milfontes and 2 more days in serene São Luís.  After hiking all day on the magnificent Fisherman’s Trail (the Rota Vincentina), we enjoyed strolling around the deserted narrow, steep and winding streets lined with whitewashed row-houses roofed with weathered and cracked sun-faded red terra-cotta tiles. 

What was interesting to me was that the trim of the windows and doors of these homes were all painted vibrant and whimsical colors.  Sapphire blue. Turquoise. Fuschia. Daffodil yellow. Forest green. Being a curious sort, 🤔I wondered why??

I started googling and didn’t find much…but here’s the little I did come across:

The bright blue is the most common color used for the accent trim. Some say it’s a tradition started by the Arabs and Moors who settled in these coastal towns centuries ago and who use blue as an ‘evil eye’ to ward off bad spirits and prevent them from entering the house. Here’s an example of the blue ‘evil eye’ you see everywhere in Turkey, Morocco and the south of Spain and Portugal. I saw this display of evil eye talismans in Cappadocia, Turkey. (Oooh – that was an amazing place! Here’s a link to my hot air balloon 🎈 ride there. A must do!!) 

I also found information online that says the pristine whitewashed homes represent the robes of Jesus and the blue color is for the trim and sash of his robe.

Either way, it’s a colorful, beautiful and fresh look and I thoroughly enjoyed taking many pix of the homes proudly displaying their choice of colorful trim, adding personality and charm to the already adorable villages in the hills of Alentejo. Enjoy!

“The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.”    — Julia Cameron