@aliciakirby
SIMPLE PLEASURES: this 200-year-old village has been converted by Eduardo Souto de Moura into an “ascetic yet luxurious” resort—with the bonus of building plots for sale.
NELSON GARRIDO
DAWN IN the rural wine region of southern Alentejo, Portugal. The sun casts a yolky glow over the cork trees and vineyards of São Lourenço do Barrocal, an estate balanced on Alentejo’s western rim. The region makes up a third of Portugal’s land mass, but only 3 percent of the population lives here. As a tourist destination, though, it’s growing in popularity, and as you make the two-hour drive from Lisbon, you can see why: Whitewashed, medieval towns lie amid rolling hills, olive groves and the forests that make this area the largest producer of cork in the world.