A visit to the Museum of Olive Oil

The Museu do Azeite can be found in the village of Bobadela near Oliveira do Hospital (our nearest town) and only a short 10 minute drive from Quinta do Cobral. Bobadela stands on the Roman site of a large city (name unknown) with the remains of a Roman forum, square and amphitheatre on display. My Dad and sister came for a stay recently and we went to have a look at this innovative and interesting new museum. The first thing you notice is the colour and shape of the buildings, the museum has been designed in the shape of an olive branch with a central corridor, the stem, with olive and leaf shaped rooms leading off from this.

The exhibition spaces are cleverly distributed through the branch and its leaves and fruits. The museum aims to take you through the history of Olive pressing with a number of really interesting reconstructions of ancient olive mills. I loved the way you could get really close to the exhibits, nothing was behind glass - always a bonus in my book. The exhibits show you how technology and new innovations in extraction of oil made the process more efficient and improved the quality of the oil. I think the most spectacular room for me was the Olive Space 1 - two massive beams (actually two massive tree trunks) span the whole space showing how the Roman beam press system worked, very impressive.

The Museum has a nice cafe/restaurant serving snacks and drinks and a very well stocked small shop, my sister Beck is showing off the fabulous view outside the restaurant (she confessed that - although she does not normally like museums - she really enjoyed visiting this one)

All in all, it was a really good October morning out, the museum was modern, well designed and interesting, I would really recommend a visit, there are lots of things for kids to do too. One of the loveliest things we came across while heading up the hill to the museum was a typical Beira traffic jam, a heard of sheep and goats with their Serra da Estrela sheep dog minder - now thats the sort of traffic jam that makes you smile!

Find out more by visiting the Museum website

The Museu do Azeite is open Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 6pm

Have you visited any great places in our area of Portugal? if so we would love to hear about them, please feel free to leave a comment below.