To understand why so many Ukrainians cross through Extremadura on their way to Portugal, we must look at the recent history of the Alentejo. The case of the Alqueva reservoir is significant. It could have been popularly called the reservoir of the Ukrainians because the workforce of this country was very numerous in the Alqueva press. They also contributed to the birth of the Nova Aldeia da Luz, which replaced the only Portuguese village inundated by the reservoir: Luz, a Muslim-inspired architectural delight with whitewashed houses, cylindrical chimneys and radiant light that lived up to its name. In addition, in Luz there was a hexagonal bullring and near the place, on the banks of the Guadiana, were the remains of a Roman fortress similar to those found in Tunisia.
Everything was drowned by the waters and the neighbors moved to a new town, Nova Aldeia da Luz, raised five kilometers above the old village, on a hill, and built, house by house, stone by stone, by Ukrainian masons, who built the new houses in imitation of the old ones: white houses crowned by cylindrical chimneys.
When you walked through those towns near Alqueva, you were struck by so many families whose members had very white skin, blonde hair and a stocky appearance. They were the Ukrainians from Alqueva, who, when the dam was finished and the new Aldea de Luz was completed, stayed in the Alentejo, employing themselves in various jobs and today, with the intensive agriculture of almond and olive trees underway, they are, fundamentally seasonal farmers.
Many Ukrainians worked on the Alqueva dam and on the construction of the town that replaced Luz, the only Portuguese flooded
The road from Ukraine to Portugal traditionally passed through Valencia de Alcántara, where I remember having found a kind of museum of memories and details of Ukraine at the Casares border gas station, the last one before entering Portugal.
José Casares opened this gas station in 1997, famous for its queues even when gasoline is cheap. His father worked at the Castel de Cáceres drugstore until in 1939 he returned to Valencia de Alcántara and set up his own drug business there. His son became independent and opened the border gas station to the family’s surprise at installing it in a nobody’s area.
The Casares gas station became one of the most prosperous businesses in La Raya, but also a kind of shelter. It is a cosmopolitan service station where, in its cafeteria, meaningfully called ‘Ponto de Encontro’, one drinks coffee next to some Ukrainian emigrants, next to a Swedish truck driver or next to two civil guards, while watching the supermarket leave into which the small gas station shop has become, to Portuguese or Slavic customers with a butane cylinder, a perfume or two nougat tablets.
An obligatory stop for emigrants in times of peace, now, in these times of war and exodus, the Ukrainians who arrive at the Casares gas station feel at home, welcome, they notice the small museum of Baltic and Ukrainian bottles, which they adorn the walls of the business, and continue on their way to Portugal, comforted and surprised that in a remote point on the border of Europe, Ukrainians have been welcome for years.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.