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Report - - Adega Q (Portugal - September 2014) | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Adega Q (Portugal - September 2014)

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Beaker

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
THE SCENE
I was invited to a friends wedding in central Portugal and while driving through the town the wedding was being hosted in, I noticed several potential exploration sites within a 10 minute drive of the town. I had three places on the list:
1. Abandoned farmhouse.
Within the two days since I spotted this site, the grass was mowed and a for sale sign put up. 3m high fences with barbed wire also wasn't conducive to tourism de la urbex. Next!
2. Abandoned factory.
Found a likely entry but wearing shorts and boat shoes wasn't the best clothing to wander into long grass and barbed wire. Discovering a drying line full of clothes also meant going in solo could be risky dealing with the local squatters. Will leave this for another day.
3. Abandoned winery (Adega).
Third time lucky it seems!

THE LOCATION
The town, which I'll refer to as DVLAo, is a self proclaimed centre of wine and rural heritage and has seen better days - given the lack of vineyards around, I'm not entirely sure how it achieved this status. It is a proper derpers paradise, with most of the properties looking derelict either because they are, or the locals can't afford to do it up. There are apparently two abandoned primary schools in the town, as the towns population is moving to the cities (mainly Lisbon) to find work after the GFC of 2008. I never found the schools, so consider this a tip for anyone else wanting to explore them.

THE SITE
Info is bit thin, but here is something paraphrased from a Portuguese website:

The winery was a family owned business, started in 1944 by Senor Rosa Snr. Founded in Montijo, the company expanded and eventually centralised production around DLVAo, with the business remaining in Montijo. By the 1950s, the family company had a large number of holdings, which were diversified into a single business in 1960 - Wine.

Here, the company focused purely on viticulture, expanding through into the 1980s where at its peak, the company ran in excess of 250 hectares (2.5km[SUP]2[/SUP]) of vineyards in DVLAo, and where production of the wine outgrew storage and several warehouses were built.

However, in January 1986, Rosa Senior died, and the sole heir, his son Rosa Jnr, decided to restructure the company and move out of traditional wine making and into modern techniques.

A new winery (which as far as I can tell is located down the south near Faro) was built and the older buildings were stripped and left to rot. The most recent date I found on site was 1991, so I assume the site was abandoned around this point. The warehouse buildings are actually for lease for the princely sum of 1500€/month.

THE EXPLORE
Apologies in advance for the image heavy report - mods, let me know if I need to delete any.

So I spotted this site from the A road leading past this location (Google streetview image, c2009):
20140907-000-streetview.jpg


No one appeared to be around, the buildings suitably derelict and being a Sunday morning in a Catholic country, a slight chance of an encounter. I parked the car, walked along the road to an entry point and there I was, in the central courtyard of the winery. The building on the left had collapsed since Google last paid a visit and there wasn't much to see there. Time to visit the buildings on the right.

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I attempted access here but alas, without smashing things, this way was secure. The courtyard did have the bizarrest of outhouses, perched next to an aviary with a conical bog.

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Moving on, the warehouses were locked and from peering through the keyhole, very empty. The old wine processing troughs were still in place though, with a vintage of indeterminate age in the collection trough.

Rusted screw feed
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Feed trough
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Vin de Algae
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Back in the courtyard, I headed towards the sheds at the back. Incidentally, the house with the water tower was locked, but the base of the water tower wasn't. I'm not a fan of heights, so left the accent of a 50 year old iron ladder for the next explorer.

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Stepping into the shed, I was greeted with this scene - banged up old Peugeot, lounge chair and a lean to lunch table covered in guano. Quality!

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Heading back to the road, I though I would be bold and try the front door of the house with the courtyard. Here, I passed once again the collapsed house - this view from the road. Streetview (2009) on left/Present day. Palm tree seems to have disappeared too.

20140907-038-streetview.jpg


Walking further down the road, I arrived at a red door, which had a piece of wire holding it closed.

No cars coming ...
check the door ...
oh look, the wire - err - just fell off. :thumb And in like Flynn I went!

Paydirt! The house seemed to be a mixture of living quarters, office space and labs and was apparently just walked out of one day. The pics speak for themselves really so here they are:

Unique temperature readings
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Checking alcohol content
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Stabilising Tension
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My office at home looks like this
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Mmmm, flavour enhancer
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Vintage
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Time to leave. Considering it was a fairly active road, I waited next to the door until a car had passed. No other cars could be heard so I made a break for it... right into the path of a bloody Prius! Damned things should wear a bell! Hot footing it, I made it about 25 meters when I heard a voice behind me. I turned and saw a farmer follwoing me, yelling something in Portuguese at me and waving his hands.

No hablo Portuguese

I said, which was true as that was in fact Spanish! I turned the corner, ran like a sissy to the car and took off before he could get my plates. Not the most glamourous of exits but an exciting end to a great explore.

Thanks for reading!
 
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