Alentejo's whitewashed capital — Roman ruins, the love letters of a Portuguese nun, and the best pork in Europe
Beja is the quiet capital of the Baixo Alentejo, set on the highest point of the vast wheat-growing plains of southern Portugal. It was an important Roman town (Pax Julia) and its medieval centre is a maze of narrow lanes crowned by a Moorish castle and Gothic convent. The Convento da Conceição houses the original love letters of Mariana Alcoforado — the 17th-century nun whose passionate missives to a French officer became one of the most famous literary scandals in European history. The Alentejo black pig (porco preto) and the distinctive Alentejo bread make it a food pilgrimage destination.
Beja was founded by Julius Caesar as Pax Julia in 48 BCE as a peace settlement for veterans — the name 'Peja' is a Portuguese corruption of 'Pax'. It was one of the most important Roman cities in Lusitania, and significant Roman ruins including a 3rd-century triumphal arch survive. The Visigoths and then the Moors held it for centuries; the Reconquista brought it into the Portuguese kingdom in 1162. The city's medieval fame rested on the Franciscan convent where Mariana Alcoforado allegedly wrote her scandalous love letters, published in Paris in 1669 — whether she was truly the author remain…