We’d driven through Mértola twice. Once, in December of 2019, just after moving to Portugal, on our way south to the Algarve as the sun was slipping below the horizon and a second time while traveling from the Algarve northward and into Alentejo. Both times we commented that this was a place we needed to come back to and visit.
On the toll highway north between Portugal’s most southern regions (Algarve is the bottom, Alentejo runs from the top of the Algarve to the river Tejo which cuts the country nearly in half from Spain to Lisbon where it spills into the Atlantic Ocean), there’s a billboard which reads (in Portuguese) “Mértola, places like this still do exist” (or something similar, this is from memory).
The walled old town, perched atop a hillside overlooking the Guadiana River, dates back (in its present form, more or less) to 1254 when the Moors were defeated and wheat and mined minerals were shipped through here down the Guadiana and south to the Atlantic. But civilization dates back over the ages. People lived here during the Neolithic period and the Phoenicians came here at the end of the Guadiana’s ship-passable line.
It became Myrtilis Iulia under the Romans and, later, Mãrtula under the Moors until 1254 when the Christian Portuguese took over. You can visit sites here to trace this history from the Torre Coraça (Shield Tower) or Casa Romana Museum from the Roman period, to the Islamic Art Museum or the architecture of the main church in the shadow of the hilltop castle (a Christian church under the arches of Islamic architecture) to the Castle itself. Mértola claims 10 museums in its small old town center.
But we came for the Islamic Festival. We learned of it while visiting Aljezur’s Municipal Museum where our guide there told us it was taking place on the next weekend. Having no concrete plans that weekend, we set off to check it out. The festival originated in 2001 and takes place bi-annually in the odd-ending years to mark the cultural heritage of the Islamic roots of the town.
The program website promotes various workshops of Islamic dance, music, art and food but really the highlight is wandering around. The winding old town streets are transformed into many souks and a massive medina. Sufi and Khaleegy dancers appear out of nowhere to pass through the Souks and draw shoppers out to be entertained and enchanted in small squares. Islamic music wafts from speakers positioned all around town or from tents, small stages and grandstands. Markets offer spices or roasted nuts, falafel or arayes (meat pitas), tea and incense, textiles, carpets or clothes. It’s a mix of Marrakesh, a farmers’ market, craft fair and music festival reminiscent of a Dead Show and is utterly fantastic. If you’re here in May, it’s worth a stop for a day, a night or the whole thing.
Sources:
The Traveling Ridleys 
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