Sightseeing

Put on your tourist hats folks: lots of pictures in this post.  Pat found a fireplace wood basket she liked online, available at a hardware store in Barcelos, about 45 minutes from here.  We headed down there on Saturday Feb. 15, and picked it up along with a load of other stuff.

Barcelos is famous for the origin of the Rooster of Barcelos, the symbol of Portugal.  You see gigantic roosters like this tabletop version all over town, and similar roosters all over Portugal.  The story behind it is highly dubious, involving a roasted rooster jumping up from the dinner table and crowing.  We recommend you not spread this around.

On the way back home we took the back roads and saw an intriguing-looking church structure on a hill in the town of Balugães.  We took a left, headed up the hill, and found the Santuário Nossa Senhora da Aparecida, said to be the site of the first vision of the Virgin Mary in Portugal.  It was a beautiful and secluded church, quiet, no one around, and stunningly ornate inside.  The views from the hillside were beautiful too.

Approaching the Santuário

The main Santuário church

Inside the main church

Inside the smaller Santuário chapel

Valley view from the Santuário

The other side of the valley

A little further on we came across this miniature stone fairy land built along the driveway to someone's house.  It looks like a tiny reproduction of a medieval town.  And is that the Ponte de Lima medieval bridge in there?

Sunday morning for breakfast we had scrambled eggs, buttered toast with lemon curd made by the former owners of Casa da Rocha from our own lemons, and slices of our own fresh oranges.  It doesn't get much better than that!

That afternoon was clear and bright, and we took a little ramble around the area.  There is a hill you can see from our balcony which looks like it would be a nice viewpoint if you could get up there, so we went exploring and found our way to the top.  There is a little chapel up there called Capela de Santo Ovídio, which is the gloomiest looking chapel ever (looks more like a cell), plus a mess of antennas, but the views are indeed spectacular.

Gloomiest chapel ever, complete with cell window

The town of Ponte de Lima and its medieval bridge from the chapel viewpoint

Pretty nice views though

We continued eastward up the Lima river for a few kilometers, following the river mostly on small roads through tiny villages and farms.  Then we headed north and into the hills, following road signs to places that looked interesting like Paço da Glória.  This is an 18th century mansion, remote in the countryside, which has been restored as a retreat.  We followed winding little roads up into the hills to find it.  You can read more about it at pacodagloria.com.

Paço da Glória

Paço da Glória

Paço da Glória

Up and over the mountain we continued, following gorgeous little roads through the countryside to return home.  A beautiful day of sightseeing, and all within a few kilometers of home!

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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