Freedom Festival 2013 and the city of Elvas – Just two reasons to visit mid-east Portugal

In a Portuguese summer you can virtually guarantee to have great weather and nothing goes hand in hand with hot weather quite as fluently than at a festival of love, union, peace and psychedelic music. The satisfaction of this heady amalgamation is demonstrated affectively at Portugal’s Freedom Festival.

The six-day Freedom Festival 2013 will run from August 13 – 18 in unspoilt countryside and scenic rapture next to a stunning lake near the city of Elvas on the Portuguese/Spanish border.

Celebrating the ‘spiritual and divine moment’ we are living in, bands and artists from all over the world will gather at this year’s Freedom Festival and collectively put together a festival of dance, energy, love and peace.

Typical to most modern festivals, there will be plenty going on at the Freedom Festival beside the music. From relaxing in the Chillout/Experience Lodge to treating yourself to a well-deserved massage in the Healing Area, this leading Portuguese festival prides itself on providing visitors will a truly alternative festival experience.

If you are not of the psychedelic persuasion and the Freedom Festival 2013 doesn’t appeal, then a trip to beautiful old garrison town of Elvas should be on your Portuguese holiday itinerary.

This UNESCO world heritage site was once fortified against a possible Spanish attack. The town’s old fort has certainly seen plenty of action down the ages, withstanding attacks from the Spanish in 1658 and again in 1711, before finally falling to the French during the Peninsula War in 1808. In 1811 the fort was finally ‘liberated’ by the British under Marshall Beresford.

With a history this tumultuous, it is easy to understand why Elvas’s fortress was made the subject of a ballad by the legendary poet, Sir Walter Scott.  As well as a truly remarkable fort, this historical Portuguese city also boasts a splendid aqueduct, which has four tiers of arches.

Whether you travel to this particularly picturesque and culturally dynamic part of Portugal to experience a potent mix of music, love and life, or visit the area to go to the episcopal city of Elvas, it is safe to surmise that you won’t be disappointed.