Elvas

Elvas is a fortified border town in central eastern Portugal 5 miles from the Spanish border. It was defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and the Nossa Senhora da Graça Fort (Forte da Graça). From 1642 it was the chief frontier fortress south of the Tagus river and withstood several sieges by the Spanish. Fort da Graça, located on a hilltop just north of Elvas, was designed by a German, Count Lippe, and was completed in 1792. It is a massive structure that withstood multiple artillery sieges. Eventually it was used as a prison and in 2014 was transferred to the Municipality of Elvas.
The town itself is rather small, about 16,000 people. We stayed at Hotel Rural Monte da Provença, a delightful small hotel in the countryside a few miles north of Elvas.