Cromeleque dos Almendres

The Cromeleque dos Almendres is a field of about 95 granite standing stones on a gentle slope among cork oaks, west of Évora in the Alentejo. It is the largest group of arranged standing stones in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the largest in Europe. There is no ticket, no gate and no visitor building at the stones, so children can walk right in among them.

The oldest stones were put up around 6000 BC, and people kept adding to and changing the site for about two thousand years. That makes it older than Stonehenge. Nobody knows exactly what it was for. The ideas include a place for ceremonies and a kind of early observatory for tracking the sun and moon, which gives children plenty to argue about.

The stones are rounded lumps of granite, many between two and a half and three and a half metres tall, though most are smaller and stand in groups. Together they cover an area about 70 by 40 metres, lined up from north-west to south-east. The oldest part, to the west, is two or three rings of small stones. Later builders added two larger ovals and some big menhirs. Some stones still stand, some lean and some have fallen. Many were found lying where they fell and were put back up by the archaeologist Mário Varela Gomes, using the original sockets as a guide.

About a dozen stones have carvings, worn by thousands of years of weather but still visible. Look for circles, lines, crescents and small round hollows. Stone 48 has a simple human-like figure with circles and a shape like a shepherd’s crook. Stone 8 has a flat top at about chest height, dotted with little dimples, and one theory is that people put pebbles in them to watch the sky around the spring equinox. Turning the visit into a hunt for the carved stones works well with younger children.

A single standing stone, the Menir dos Almendres, stands about 1.4 km north-east of the circle, on the edge of the estate. It is about four and a half metres tall and nearly a metre across. A line from the cromlech to the menhir points roughly towards sunrise on the winter solstice, which is a good fact to test with a compass app. The local council has marked a walking trail between them as part of its megalithic route.

The site was forgotten for a long time and only rediscovered in 1966 by Henrique Leonor Pina, who was out doing fieldwork for the national geological maps. Excavations since then have identified three main building phases, around 6000, 5000 and 4000 BC, so a stone circle this size went unnoticed by scientists until about sixty years ago.

In Guadalupe village, about 4.5 km back along the road, the Centro Interpretativo dos Almendres is run by Ebora Megalithica with Évora council. It is free to enter and has a visitor desk, toilets including accessible ones, a basic café and a themed shop. Outside, beside the Valverde stream, there is a shaded picnic area with tables for 48 people, a garden of native plants, benches and 12 large panels on local archaeology and nature.

The centre also has a prehistory park with full-size reconstructions of two hunter-gatherer shelters and a Neolithic farmers’ hut, built with original materials and techniques, plus replica tools, weapons, pottery and 3D copies of the skulls of early humans. The park is used for pre-booked educational activities.

For families, the centre runs workshops led by archaeologists, for groups of 3 to 8, in Portuguese, Spanish or English, morning or afternoon. When we checked there were three: making and decorating a prehistoric pot (€30 per person; the pots are fired weeks later and can be collected or posted), decorating slate plaques and making cord from plant fibres (€30), and learning to shoot a prehistoric spear-thrower and a bow (€10). Children up to 12 pay half. The spear-thrower and archery session is the obvious pick for a child who can’t stand still. Book by email beforehand.

Its guided visit takes about three hours and covers the cromlech, the lone menhir and the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro, a large dolmen (burial chamber) nearby. Homeschool groups of 20 or more can book the school programmes, aimed at 5th and 7th year history, from €4 per pupil for a guided visit to the stones and €8 for a practical prehistory class.

The last few kilometres to the stones are a dirt track through a cork and olive estate, fine in a normal car in dry weather. There is no café, toilet or shelter at the stones themselves, so use the facilities in Guadalupe first. The Alentejo is very hot from June to September, so bring water and hats and go early or late in the day in summer.

Out in the open among the trees, it suits children who find busy indoor monuments hard work, and there is room to move between the stones as long as nobody climbs on them. The stones are worn and fragile, and the centre lists erosion and vandalism among the site’s conservation problems. A baby carrier is easier than a buggy on the rough ground.

Évora is about 15 km back along the road. In the city, children usually go straight for the Capela dos Ossos, the chapel lined with bones, and the Água de Prata aqueduct with houses built into its arches. The Museu do Relógio has more than 600 ticking clocks, and the Évora playground and ludoteca in the public garden is a good place to let off steam.

Is the Cromeleque dos Almendres free?

Yes. The stones are open access and free. The interpretation centre is free to enter; only workshops and guided visits cost money.

Are there toilets at the Almendres stones?

Not at the stones. Use the toilets at the Centro Interpretativo dos Almendres in Guadalupe village before you drive the last stretch.

Can you get to the Almendres Cromlech without a car?

Not easily. The official pages don’t mention a bus. The interpretation centre suggests a taxi from Praça do Giraldo in Évora, or coming by bike.

How long do you need at the Cromeleque dos Almendres?

About an hour at the stones. Add time for the walk to the menhir, and a couple of hours if you book a workshop in Guadalupe.

Is it older than Stonehenge?

Yes. The first stones went up around 6000 BC, and the site was in use for about two thousand years after that.