Casa do Alentejo

A bit of fake Granada behind an inconspicuous facade.

From the outside, rather unassuming and adorned with a tourist hurdle: a staircase whose end you can’t see. It’s worth overcoming this hurdle and stepping into the rooms of the Alentejo League. This institution, about 100 years old, represents the farmers from Portugal’s most important agricultural region, hosting lobby events here since 1932, and purchasing the property in 1981. There’s a restaurant serving Alentejo cuisine at inflated prices and a terrace where you can flambe the typical chorizo sausage yourself.

Originally dating back to the 17th century, the palace serves as the capital branch of the Amaral family — one of Portugal’s oldest families with a lineage tracing back to the Kingdom of León. As Counts of Anadia, the Amarals have been conservative Catholic ambassadors and ministers in Portugal’s political scene since the 18th century. However, the current head of the family is mostly known as a racing driver who makes his money by selling a private channel to the German Television Company RTL and then founding an investment company that seems to understand sustainability as profit maximization.

With the advent of the First Republic, the noble palace becomes a furniture warehouse. In 1919, the Majestic Club emerges as a variety show in Arabesque kitsch, featuring one of the first Portuguese casinos, adorned with excessive plush and glitter — reminiscent of the opulent zeitgeist, there’s even a perfume in its memory.