Vinhais

Several times throughout the years

   Vinhais is a Portuguese village which belongs to the Bragança district (Alto Trás-os-Montes). This is the birthplace of my mother, and current place of residence of my grandmother. I have enough childhood memories of  this village, and it doesn't matter how many times I go back, the charm does not disappear and there's always something new.

   It was here that I learned some of the traditions of the Portuguese people, accompanied by memories of my grandmother, as well as other local traditions that are practiced even today. The fascination by the legends and myths that surround the entire region are magical. Although small, the village is full of little treasures, such as the Medieval Wall and the Biological Park; events are varied and attract tourists from all over the country and even the neighboring country (given its proximity to Spain).

     I'll tell you a little about some of the tourist sites in the village and also about some of the events (but haven't decided if I'll talk about them in more detail in different posts).

    The Medieval Wall - Vinhais Castle (or "Castelinhos" as they're called by my grandmother): no one knows for sure when or who had built, but authors refer to D. Dinis as author. Due to its border location, the castle was of great military importance due to the greed of the neighboring monarchs.

    Pillory: located within the walled enclosure of the castle, very close to my grandmother's house (she lives down the street). Its construction dates back to the Manueline period.

     For nature lovers I advise a walk to the top of Cidadelha, consisting of a viewpoint overlooking a beautiful landscape. You can see some unique species of fauna and flora.

    You can also visit the Biological Park where you can observe several species such as roe deer, wild boars, various waterfowl, and the Mirandese donkey, the same as the flora, where you can find different types of mushrooms, aromatic and medicinal herbs. And here I have to tell you about this amazing thing, we found there some goose, that were actually very polite because when we make a bow, they match.

    Remember when I spoke of traditions, it is the Green Park is the place to learn. This leisure area is also a place dedicated to preserving the memory of the arts and traditional crafts, which many are unaware and are at risk of getting lost in time. I'll talk about them in another post, solely dedicated to it.

   Vinhais has a rich and varied cuisine based on typical regional products such as maize (corn meal with tomato or cabbage), the couscous (wheat flour and boiled water in a water bath). very typical dishes like  rabanadas, canelones, caldo de cascas, enchidos, folar de Páscoa and pasteis de massa tenra.

Besides gastronomy, this village has many traditional festivals (some more than others), such as the Chestnut Festival, the Fair Meats, the Feast of the Goat and the Stub (Cidões - Vinhais) and Wednesday of Ash: Death and Devils. I decided to address these festivities in another post in order to be able to extend myself a little more about each of them.

This is a well-Portuguese town !!! And my house: D

Serra da Estrela

A few times over the years...

       Although I live near by, it's not with that much frequency that I go to the mountains (I know it's something quite stupid...). I'll tell you a little bit about this specific mountain.

       Serra da Estrela is the name given to the mountain range where are the highest peaks of Portugal. The mountain reaches a maximum altitude of 2000 meters (to rely on a tower of 9 meters). This is part of six municipalities: Manteigas, Guarda, Seia, Gouveia, Celorico da Beira and Covilhã (where I live).

     In addition to the snow, fauna and flora, you can explore the entire human wealth, cultural, historic and gastronomic of the region.You can find here the Vodafone ski resort, the only one in Portugal, beyond the highest point, the tower. 

Other sights are the Bear Stone (Pedra do Urso), the Monument to Our Lady of Good Star (Monumento a Nossa Senhora da Boa Estrela), the Hell Pit (Poço do Inferno) and Hardy pitcher (which draws the most intrepid to climb) (Cântaro Magro), the Head of the Old (Cabeça da Velha) and Long Pond (Lagoa Comprida).

In terms of gastronomy, bread and cheese are the main stars. Peculiar something is the dog of the Serra da Estrela, typical of the region, whose main function is the grazing of sheep in an area where practices such as transhumance (can (re)read the post about the rattles) and the renewal of pastures by fire are common.

      As I said, though I don't go so often to the mountains, I have some pretty anecdotal episodes: from sledding as a child, almost getting buried in snow (and fortunately it was only up to the knee and inside a covered river with snow), taking pictures with "Olaf" and catching a colossal cold just to take some beautiful photographs with a beautiful sundown.

It's fun and attracts many tourists in winter, especially around Christmas and New Year, however, is never sure when it snows ...

Águas Radium

December, 2015

Hotel Serra da Pena

     This is not one of those places more visited by tourists in Portugal, but for those of you who like ruins, and a more mystical environment, well, then this is one of the places you must see. I had several opportunities to check it out, unfortunately always seemed to happen something at the last minute that made give up the idea. So after Christmas, this year I finally could get to the place and take some pictures, and dig within its history. I should warn you that although the place is great for taking great photos, its history its a little bit off, I mean, there's nothing to certain, but I'll tell you what is common history about this place.

     Originally this was called Hotel Serra da Pena, and it's situated near Sortelha, belonging to Sabugal's county. At the beginning of the twentieth century it became known as Termas de Águas Radium (Radium Water Baths). They are a massive granite construction, now in ruins. The hotel part is the one that is located in the background of the large patio and the construction on the right corresponds to the old spa.

        As I said, the story is a bit confusing, but it seems that its origin is a legend. It begins with a Spanish Count, Don Rodrigo, who here would have cured her daughter from a serious skin disease, later sending, to build a spa hotel. But what deepens the mystery is a story of Acciainoli, according to which, until 1920 the waters were not known and at that Professor Lepierre stated that the springs had radioactive properties. There was a time, where appeared the radioactive fever, which stated that radioactive materials were beneficial to health (more specifically the radio). The It is said that the hotel was able to accommodate 150 people, and where it was possible to cure the following ailments: skin diseases, basin, arteriosclerosis, rheumatism, gout, hypertension, colitis, edema, circulatory failure, kidney and disturbances in nutrition, via treatment with radioactive sludge and the application of radioactive electrical pads, among others. 

       During World War II, its the end of the hot springs, as uranium becomes a bloody material. Around the years 40-50, the radioactive fever ends with the release of harmful effects that exposure to radioactive materials has to health. Later it come a project to try revive the hot springs, within a luxury hotel, but it never came through. So right now its in ruins, and yet it still fascinates those who pass by.

Happy New Year 2016

31st December - 1st January

    Hello I wish you all a very happy New Year, that 2016 may bring what 2015 forgot :D For my first post in 2016, I decide to share with you how and where I spent my new year's eve, and tell you some funny adventures that happened along the way.

    Adventures right from the beginning ... change of plans on last time ...Waking up to the planned day - lunch, then help my mother in desserts, go put my brother to train, go shopping and go look for a colleague. Well, until lunchtime everything was going to wonder, sitting on the couch with the computer talking to my colleague and behold, everything changes. She can no longer come - what good New Year's Eve alone with my parents... not bad, but it was not what I had in mind. So my brother and my mother, "Go take a shower and go to Lisbon..."

    After a few seconds of hesitation, behold, I get up from the couch to go bathing in 5 minutes, get dressed in less time than that, get the backpack (money, mobile phone, charger and of course champagne and raisins)...here I come towards the station to catch a train that departed within 10 minutes.

    Anyway... I sat on the train, not believing that I did what I did... it is then that I realize that after we left the Fundão (first stop) a lady with her son, were stuck on the train and had to leave in Castelo Branco and then returned back. It seems that there are others like me who in this last day of the year, still collect funny stories to tell.

    You know how it is always complicated to deal with places of buses and trains, so during the trip, with a carriage already nearly full, behold, we start looking for our places, because the ones we had, to be together during the trip were not ours (yes I know that if we had just sat since the beginning in the right places, we would have avoided this situation :) ).

    Want to know more? So it looks like the train is already overflowing and there are only places in the carriage first class - to chic, but worse for those entering the train and no longer have any choice ...ups.

     Another pearl, do not know whether it is defective or if it is due to the large influx...yes, because this has been a shuttle back and forth, even seems that they are giving something in there...that the door of the bathroom no longer closes. Behold, my brother decided to go too. His colleague is on the door, as he does what he has to do...and behold, he brings a gift from inside, clinging to his sneaker, ehehehe.

     News flash: it seems that we aren't going to sleep...ah...this because we don't have where to stay and they only have ticket for tomorrow at 7pm. Well, perhaps it is good to have not bought a return ticket.

     Once we get to Oriente Station (Lisbon) we went for a walk around the mall once my brother's girlfriend instead of bringing a backpack brought a purse... Done!!!
 

  Then we go to the subway in search of a place to eat...and then the saga begins. Lets go to Santos to McDonald's...is closed...ups. So let's go to Chiado to see if there's anything. We went down a few streets and behold, we find an affordable restaurant: Tasca do Tejo. While we wait, here's my brother decides to break something from the restaurant...well, it was nothing to do with us.

Behold, we arrived at Terreiro do Paço and a sea of people. We went to a store to buy drinks, as in the enclosure were more expensive. We sat by the roadside waiting for midnight. 20 minutes before we went to the river to see the fireworks...well, it was a difficult thing... I tell you to get out so it was another problem. Finally we entered in 2016 !!!!

What we did in the first minutes of New Year? We were looking for a bathroom. After all relieved, my brother's girlfriend decided to change outfit in the middle of the street. Then off we went to enjoy the last minutes of Richie Campbell's concert.

In the meantime we took photos with some French we do not know from anywhere... Seeing a couple of Brazilians to hug in the street, here I come to them to give them a hug too. However it is already 2 am on the first day of January and we sat at the door of the police (without knowing it), waiting for two who had gone to the bathroom (again). In the meantime we left there and went to have a square, where a billboard, allowed to take pictures.
   Next step: go looking for tobacco (attention: it wasn't for me!!!) was not easy because everything was closed. We got to go up all the Liberty Avenue to go back down. It is 4 am and fatigue already squeezed, so we stopped at Starbucks. Not long we were there. We decided to go to Santa Apolónia (train station). Walk, walk, walk....feet already ached and it starts to rain :( . We stopped for a moment, waiting for the rain to subside. We returned to Terreiro do Paço... it wasn't the same...empty and clean.
    We reached the station around 6 am, sitting on the floor, tired and cold...until around 7 am the waiting room opened and it was possible to get some sleep. But the departure time never came. Among bathrooms that were paid and go looking for something to eat, we learned of the strike and that the ticket office would not open... No matter we entered the train, we changed the tickets and there we went home (finally)!!!


How was your New Years Eve?

Portuguese Christmas

24th to 25th December

       Hello, so as promised yesterday, today I will talk a little about the Christmas traditions that exist in my country, but especially in my family.

    First you have to realize that my mother comes from a part of the country (Trás-dos-Montes), which is almost next to Spain; my father comes from the area of Sabugal (innermost) and my brother and I are the center of the country, then at Christmas is a time when all local traditions mix.

Christmas Eve dinner

      During the day, we prepare the famous "French toast" or "rabanadas", that unlike what happens usually, our, addition to being fried, take a special sauce. The French toast is made with fried bread, and some people you put sugar and cinnamon at the end, which for me are the "fatias douradas", as the French toast take a sauce with homemade wine, port wine, sugar and cinnamon, made in an iron pot at the fireplace (hmmm.... delicious!!!).  

    We also do other types of desserts such as "baba de camelo" (with egg and boiled condensed milk), passion fruit mousse, farófias, crème brûlée and rice pudding. Of course the famous Bolo Rei can not miss on the table. But this is only the end of the banquet. Here at home, the protagonists are cod and boiled octopus, accompanied by potatoes and vegetables (cabbage and rabas); this year had a variation, roasted sweet potato and roasted cod for my brother (the weird of the family, ehehehe).

      As Christmas is to spend with family, normally we are five, me, my brother, my mother, my father and my grandmother occasionally we have guests, like happened this year, a Brazilian friend and a friend of my brother, who joined the party.

     After dinner, usually we spent the time playing cards, until 11pm, at which time we go to midnight mass, then watch the Madeley - a huge bonfire in the church door, that the priest lights up, which are groups of young people that organize - this year were those born in 1997 and that next year will be 1998. At this time families and friends gather around the bonfire, drink and celebrate together. After we returned home to make the exchange of gifts. And so is the 24th of December.

      On the 25th, we have the traditional Christmas lunch, which in our house is made with roast lamb, accompanied by "old clothes" (a dish made with the remains of Christmas Eve in particular with the vegetables). Then we'll walk if the weather permits.

Óbidos Christmas Village

December, 2012/13

    Hi everyone!!! I apologize for my disappearance, all this time, but the work, friends and other wanderings occupied my time.

   So now that I am back and enjoying this holiday season, I decided to do two very similar publications in that it suit this Christmas season.

    Today I'll talk about the Obidos Christmas Village, and tomorrow (I hope), I will present to you some of the Christmas traditions in Portugal, but especially from my family.

Óbidos

    The beautiful village of Obidos, with white houses adorned with bougainvilleas and honeysuckle was captured from the Moors by the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, in 1148. Later, King Dinis gave it to his wife, Queen Saint Isabel. From then until 1883, the village and the surrounding land was always the property of the queens of Portugal.

    Surrounded by a ring of medieval walls and crowned by the Moorish castle rebuilt by D. Dinis, who is now am inn, Óbidos is one of the most perfect examples of our medieval fortress.

Christmas Village

    With the arrival of the month of December, the Obidos village is filled with light, color and fantasy, and becomes a dream place where everyone can live magical experiences, among countless games and amusements. The Santa's House, the nativity scene, shows, games, ice rinks, inflatable, there are many amusements that can provide special moments.

    For two years straight I visit this special place in the most amazing (for me) time of the year, and believe me I became a child again. The will to play with the several characters that go through out the village, and taking picture in every corner, trying hot chocolate and "pasteis de nata" de chocolate, made me happy.
   If you have kids believe me this is a must go place at this time of year, but if you don't have kids but like to live like one, try it too. Also you can visit all the little streets filled with the smell of caramelized dried fruits, and the famous "ginjinha" (a kind of liquor) de Óbidos, in a cup of chocolate.

Buddha Eden - Garden of Peace

November, 2014

    A year ago, I visited a garden called the Garden of Peace, and I think this is the best time to talk about it in the light of recent events around the world. Many translate the tour of the Buddha Eden as peace portrayed in a garden.

The Garden was begun in 2001 at Quinta dos Loridos, in the parish of Carvalhal in Bombarral, owned by Commander Joe Berardo. After the Taliban government destroyed unique monuments, classified by UNESCO as World Heritage, the Commander Berardo began another of his dreams, the construction of this extensive garden, paying tribute to the colossal Buddhas carved into the rock in the Bamyan valley in the center Afghanistan.

   The garden has about 35 hectares, and is still a work in progress, however, can count on a huge number of sculptures. In this oriental garden, about 6000 tons of marble were carved. The landscape design was the direct guidance of the Commander.

    It is now the largest garden of this kind in Europe. Consisting of various routes, always flanked with statues and small meditation spaces. With a symbolic price of 2,5€, and children under 12 are admitted free.

     The garden aims, inner peace, with visitors and the world.

"This garden has a message of reconciliation to any religious belief, ethnicity, nationality, social and cultural status"

For more informations, the official page:
https://facebook.com/BacalhoaBuddhaEden