If you are looking for a historic hotel in the Alentejo area, then the Pousada de Vila Vicosa Dom Joao IV features got to be at the upper of your list. There are a lot of significant sites to undergo around the beautiful town of Vila Vicosa, well known for its Ducal Palace and old-fashioned palace, which houses a museum consecrated to shooting and archaeology. Founded by Jaime 4th Duke of Braganza in 1502, the castle was remodelled in the later 16th and 17th centuries in a rather sober Mannerist fashion. This luxury Vila Vicosa guesthouse is intimately linked with the family of the Dukes of Braganza. It was indigenously a convent, probably commissioned circa 1514 by Duke Jaime as the refuge for the daughters from his 2nd marriage who could not find notable husbands. It's a good specimen of the influence that Italian Renaissance architecture had in Portugal and the ways it was adapted to local traditions by native architects. The design of the church doorway is one specimen of these Italianate touches, in addition to the Pousada's overall layout. Nowadays, the Hotel Pousada de Vila Vicosa Dom Joao IV welcomes guests and corporates clients rather than notable spinsters, and is the perfect place for those in search of long-lasting vacation, combining recreation, well-known local food and a swimming in the hotel's open-air pool. Some of the hotel's huge halls have been turned into a famous conference center, and a range of activities able to be arranged for corporate groups, such as fado music and Alentejo folk songs, tours of the Ducal Palace, palace, galleries and regional wine cellars, and hot air ballooning.