The Baja TT Sharish Gin Reguengos/Mourão puts this corner of Portugal on the international rally-raid map for another weekend. Fast tracks, dust, competition and some of the leading names in cross-country rallying will draw most of the attention towards the stopwatch.

But there is considerably more to Reguengos de Monsaraz than the few seconds it takes a competition car to disappear around the next corner.

High above the surrounding plains stands Monsaraz, a whitewashed medieval village surrounded by walls and blessed with the slightly unfair ability to look good from almost every angle. Down below are vineyards, olive groves and the town of Reguengos, where wine is considerably more than something placed on the table at dinner.

A short distance away, São Pedro do Corval keeps Portugal's great pottery tradition alive, with workshops where clay is still shaped by hand rather than simply displayed behind museum glass. Beyond it lies the enormous Alqueva, a body of water that transformed the landscape, while prehistoric stones scattered across the territory remind us that people were already leaving their mark here thousands of years before anyone invented rally raid.

And then night arrives.

Around the Cumeada and Dark Sky Alqueva, the sky becomes part of the attraction too, because apparently medieval walls, wine, pottery, food, prehistoric monuments and an enormous lake were not quite enough for one municipality.

For international rally-raid fans following the Baja TT Sharish Gin from elsewhere in Europe or around the world, this is also an opportunity to discover the country behind the competition.

That is where GuiaRural.pt comes in.

The Essential Guide to Reguengos de Monsaraz offers the shorter route: enough to understand the landscape, Monsaraz, Alqueva, the vineyards, pottery and some of the history without requiring an entire evening to read it.

And if the Baja has already finished — or curiosity has simply got the better of you — there is the Complete Guide. It goes deeper into the history, heritage, megalithic sites, landscape, food, wine and local traditions, together with ideas on what to visit and a two-day itinerary for anyone considering turning a future rally trip into something considerably longer.

Because rally raid can introduce you to a place.

What happens after that is entirely up to you.

The Baja moves quickly. Reguengos de Monsaraz deserves to be discovered rather more slowly.

GuiaRural.pt — Portugal beyond the special stage.

Guia Rural is part of the Rally-Raid Network project