Margaret and Hajir arrive for one of many festive events, in one of Margaret’s many costume changes, at this epic wedding
So finally we get to the main point of this trip: Margaret & Hajir’s wedding. They chose as the location the Alentejo wine region. It’s worth noting that while the Douro Valley wine region – the second stop on this Portugal Explorer tour of ours – is a reasonably confined discrete area, the Alentejo region spreads across fully a third of the country. And unlike the area around our Six Senses stop in the north, where we were literally surrounded by multiple wineries, down here you can drive miles without seeing a single vine.
That is to say this is a very different wine region compared to up north. Still, because it is a largely rural and dispersed area there was no single large hotel or resort to house the hundred-plus people Margaret and Hajir were expecting for the ceremony. Instead we were spread out for miles in various inns and guesthouses and winery-hotels.
The beautiful countryside around Assumar
Mark & I ended up in an absolutely lovely small guesthouse in the tiny town of Assumar, certainly the smallest town we have stayed at in years. And the country boy that’s still in me loved the stop. We were only there for two nights but both days I went for long walks in the country (joined by Mark for one of them), discovering cork trees, grazing sheep and cattle, a huge solar farm, and plenty of mud. I love living in Manhattan but you don’t get a lot of opportunity for country walks there so I did my best to make up for it in Assumar.
The turn-around point of one walk. I’d wanted to go a little further, and this pleasant pasture was inviting, but Walt had warned me that the cattle here were aggressive beef cattle, not docile milk cows. I saw them spread across the path, saw the big horns on most of them, and decided discretion was the better part of valor. I turned around and thus survived to write this blog.
Besides great walks in the country two memories from Assumar stand out. When we first arrived – delayed some 45 minutes by a terrible accident on the highway down there – our host Walt took us to the tiny restaurant in town where the menu was … ribs. Really good ribs, I should add, in the most typical small-town café filled with old men who probably sit there every day, telling the same stories. There was no menu – you ate what he was cooking that day. There were side dishes, however, three of them to be precise. Potatoes, potatoes, and potatoes, cooked in three different ways. Not the meal I would normally choose but a genuinely unforgettable meal.
And then just the guesthouse itself. Walt & Hilde, the proprietors, had recently restored an old farmhouse; I don’t remember just how old but at least a couple hundred years. They couldn’t have been lovelier, our room was big and bright, and they even had a pool in the backyard. Of course, notwithstanding the early April calendar I went in for a dip. Cold but exhilarating.
Walt and Hilde the absolutely lovely hosts at our Assumar guesthouse
And then of course there was the wedding. We’ve socialized with the couple for dinners and parties at both our house and theirs and one thing we were confident of was that there would be enough alcohol. In fact we were a little concerned because the wedding ceremony (ceremonies) themselves were scheduled to last some 10+ hours, with open bars the whole time. And as if that weren’t enough there were dedicated tequila- and whiskey-bearers wandering around throughout ready to help anyone in need.
We didn’t know many of the people at the wedding but we’d met John at a dinner party at Margaret & Hajir’s just a couple weeks ago and have known Alice almost since we first moved to New York, so it was fun to spend time with both of them
In fact it was all pretty fabulous – a somewhat traditional Persian ceremony to reflect Hajir’s family, a more English country estate ceremony complete with arrivals on white horses, a planned escape by hot air balloon that had to get scrubbed because of the weather, and plenty of food, music, and socializing. All in all we had a pretty fabulous time.
It was scheduled to be a two-and-a-half hour drive from Coimbra down to Assumar. Instead no more than a minute or two before we got to this spot there was a terrible accident; a car hidden behind that van was demolished. It didn’t appear that anyone died but at least one person had to wait for the emergency responders to get removed from the car. A good reminder to drive carefully.
The wonderful and memorable lunch in Assumar
Me with ribs and potatoes. Before the bill came I asked Mark if he thought it would come to under or over €50; we both thought maybe a little under. In fact it was €32. We can’t afford not to come on vacation here!
A grove of 400-year-old cork trees. Walt explained that it takes 10 years after removing the bark to make corks for the tree to recover before it is ready for “harvesting” again. So they paint a big white digit on the tree to show when it was last harvested; this tree, obviously, had its bark removed in 2019 and will be ready again in 2029.
Another shot of our country walk
Margaret and Hajir arrive to one of the ceremonies on horses. This all looked good but a second later the horses decided to be less cooperative….
Some pictures of friends, old and new. Here are Elizabeth and David.
Alice and Najeen, cousin of the groom
Sarah, Laure, and Laura. Notice Mark, reflected in the mirror behind them, taking this picture.
Me with Robert, father of the groom (and official tequila bearer), and Kylie from Indiana
Rebecca, Annie, Kris, & Leah. I’d complimented Kris on his tie when he explained it was his daughter’s hair bow and she didn’t want to wear it any more so he turned it into a festive tie!
You recognize us!
Here we are again with Walt and Hilde who joined the early part of the festivities
The vows, with officiant cousin Hasti. You’ll notice that instead of traditional bridesmaids and groomsmen Hajir & Margaret are joined at the front by the tequila- and whiskey-bearers. I mean, you never know when you might need a little extra nip!
The entire group from our little guesthouse: David, Linda (mother of the bride), Sarah, Laura, Greg, Jake, Mark, me, and Tina, aunt of the bride
And one final view of the serenity of the Assumar countryside