From the top of the Fort of Santa Luzia you can look down on Elvas like a general planning an assault. The fort stands on a rise to the south of the old town and was built from 1641, at the start of the Portuguese Restoration War, to deny enemy artillery a hill that overlooked the walls. Its shape is a star, with four bastions and a deep dry ditch, and its engineers followed the Dutch style, which was the best defensive school in Europe at that time. The walls are thick and low, built to shed cannonballs, and the corridor called the covered way runs around the outer edge of the ditch, a protected path where soldiers could move in cover and meet an attack head on.
This was the position that the Spanish army attacked in January 1659, when they besieged Elvas, and it was the defenders' success in holding out that led to the victory in the Battle of the Lines of Elvas. The fort now houses a military museum, with cannon, uniforms, maps and swords, a fitting use for a place where so much of the story happened. It is one of the best-preserved examples of this kind of fort in Europe, which is why it forms part of the UNESCO site.
Walk along the covered way and the logic of the design becomes clear. You see how every wall is covered by another, how the ditch is overlooked from many angles, and how an attacker would have had no hiding place. It also gives you a good view of the aqueduct, the other forts and the plains of the Alentejo stretching toward Spain.
A short ride from the centre of Elvas, with parking at the gate, makes the visit easy. The roads are quiet and the fuel station and food are in town. Midsummer heat on exposed stone is fierce, so choose a morning visit or go in spring or autumn. The best light is in the late afternoon, when the walls turn gold.
Afterwards, find a restaurant in the old town and order a dish of migas, fried bread with pork, which is the classic Alentejo peasant dish, or a plate of the local ham.