To Visit Portugal: May 2019

Friday, May 31, 2019

Visit the Church of Rochas de Cima - Almaceda

Visit the Church of Padrão - Almaceda

Visit the Church of São Sebastião - Almaceda

The Church of São Sebastião, located in the parish of Almaceda, is a 16th century foundation, of which nothing survives, reformed in the second half of the century. XVIII and receiving renovations in 1962. It is of rectangular plan, composed of nave, chancel, annex and bell tower attached with different roofs in false vaults of wooden cradle and illuminated by windows in arch shot. Main facade finished in gable, with vains torn in axis, with axial portal of straight cock and perfect back window. Interior with coro-alto, based on corbels and columns integrating sinks of holy water, of probable eighteenth-century work, reformed in the 60's, with the construction of a new structure in concrete beam. It has a baptistery at the base of the tower, transformed into a confessional, a pulpit with access through the wall, a side chapel containing altarpieces decorated with nineteenth-century work, a triumphal arch flanked by retabular chapels arranged at an angle, eighteenth century, following a late-baroque language. Main altarpiece of straight body and five axles, the three central rococo carvings, most recently enlarged.

Visit the Community Oven of Martim Branco - Almaceda

Visit the Ingarnal Fountain - Almaceda

Visit the Chapel of Rochas de Baixo - Almaceda

The chapel of Rochas de Baixo, located in the parish of Almaceda, stands on an elevation in the center of the village, strategically orientated towards the surrounding landscape and the surrounding mountains.

Visit the Chapel of Ribeiro das Eiras - Almaceda

Visit the Chapel of Paiágua - Almaceda

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Visit the Shale Path of Martim Branco - Almaceda

The stunning Martim Branco Shale Path, located in the Feast of Almaceda, has two variants. The main, and longer, crosses the village to get into paths and forest paths that cross dams, streams and a deeply rural agricultural landscape.
The course begins in the Martim Branco Shale Village, crosses the stream and, taking the paths that cross the floodplain, it is possible to follow along the levadas contemplating a weir and mixtures of olive groves, medronhal and azinhal.
Further on, it crosses the stream on the Volta bridge again, entering a new track that accompanies a levada coming from a top weir.
Climb the Levada Nova to your weir where a path leads to a forest path. In Porto da Vila, the riparian corridor of the stream of Almaceda appears. You will cross the stream in a few poldras, which leads to the forest trail to the village of Almaceda.
The shorter variant leads to the water mills passing through the old milling core. After crossing the bridge of the Volta, it crosses the "Levada dos Moinhos" passing through the old milling nucleus towards Martim Branco.

Visit the Martim Branco White Shale Village - Almaceda

Martim Branco is a small village, located in the parish of Almaceda and situated between penedias of schist and quartz. The village develops from two longitudinal paths having a longitudinal configuration. One of these streets runs parallel and closer to the Ribeira de Almaceda.
It presents itself as a rural settlement where buildings destined for housing, haystacks, community ovens and dams, stand out for their modest layout architecture and with an interesting particularity: the fact that in the materials used predominate, without adulterations in most cases, the shale and mud. The predominant building material is shale.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Visit the Solar dos Viscondes de Oleiros - Alcains

The Solar dos Viscondes de Oleiros, located in the Parish of Alcains, is classified as Property of Public Interest.

Visit the Quinta das Sesmarias - Alcains

Quinta das Sesmarias is currently a rural tourism space and is located on the urban outskirts of the village of Alcains, being a property with 3.5ha that maintains the rural characteristics of the early twentieth century. The first construction dates back to 1928 and was recovered in 2002 in the form of a dwelling.
Quinta das Sesmarias allows a close contact with nature, where the silence of the countryside can be interrupted by the cuckoo singing in the spring, and the observation of birds and rabbits in perfect harmony with their habitat or even the exhibitionist poses of peacocks and pheasants in captivity. The farmhouse thus invites to contemplation and rest, where the well-being of the visitors deserves all the attention.

Visit the Alcains Municipal Pools

Visit the Monument of Elevation to the Village - Alcains

Visit the Palace of St. Peter - Alcains

The Palacete de São Pedro, located in the Parish of Alcains, is a beautiful country house porch with an annexed chapel, built on one end of a farm that came to be dismembered and confined to a large part of its initial area for the passage of the line Beira Baixa train (1891), which divided it into two halves, one of which its owners came to build the first major industrial project of Alcains: the "São Pedro Factory" (1925), intended for the cereal milling and production industry of food pastes.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Visit the Museu do Canteiro - Alcains

The Museu do Canteiro, located in the Parish of Alcains, is located in the Solar dos Goulões, later called Solar Ulisses Pardal.
The Museum has a permanent exhibition with the central theme of the stone, techniques and tools to work this material - namely granite - so linked to the socio-economic history of the Village and the County.
In addition to the permanent exhibition dedicated to the work of the flowerbed, the Museum also presents several temporary exhibitions (related to the theme of the stone) during the year.
The Museu do Canteiro is a municipal equipment.

Visit the Church of Our Lady of the Conception - Alcains

The Church of Our Lady of the Conception, located in the Parish of Alcains, dates from the mid-sixteenth century. It is a large church and features a Pombaline front.

Visit the Romanesque Fountain of Alcains

Monday, May 27, 2019

Visit stadium António Coelho Trigueiros de Aragão - Alcains

The stadium António Coelho Trigueiros de Aragão, located in the parish of Alcains, has a capacity for 8,750 seats and was inaugurated in 1963. This stadium is where the Alcains Sports Club plays its games.

Visit the Cruise of Alcains

Visit the Chapel of the Holy Spirit - Alcains

The Capela do Espírito Santo, located in the Parish of Alcains, was built in the 16th century.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Visit the Chapel of St. Peter - Alcains

The Chapel of St. Peter, located in the Parish of Alcains, dates from 1640.

Visit the Chapel of Santa Apolónia - Alcains

Visit Castelo Branco

Castelo Branco is a Portuguese city, capital of the district and, located in the statistical region of the Center, in the sub-region of Beira Baixa, with about 34,000 inhabitants in its urban perimeter.

It is home to the third largest Portuguese municipality, with 1 438.19 km² of area and 56 109 inhabitants, subdivided into 25 parishes. The municipality is bordered to the north by the municipality of Fundão, to the east by Idanha-a-Nova, to the south by Spain, to the southwest by Vila Velha de Ródão and to the west by Proença-a-Nova and Oleiros.

Unlike other cities in the region, which grew notably due to the textile industry, Castelo Branco has always had a geostrategic and political importance in Portugal. It is not, therefore, subject to the economic fluctuations that have displaced textile companies - especially manual labor disqualified - as happened in the northern region and Cova da Beira. The predominant sociological composition is therefore also very different from other cities of the working class culture.

Castelo Branco will have had its origin in the place of a pre-Roman castro. At the beginning of the 12th century there was a village at the top of the Cardina Hill, on whose slope the settlement of the village developed.

The city was initially built at the top and on the adjacent slope of Monte da Cardosa, but grew up and nowadays rises mainly in the adjacent flat areas. Yet the city lies 384 meters above sea level and the castle at 490 meters. At the opposite extreme rises the Monte de São Martinho, a quartzite formation that constitutes an important archaeological center. The soil is mostly of the granite type, of which example is a rocky outcrop known as barrocal south of the city.

At the hydrographic level there are two rivers that pass very close to the city, the Ponsul River to the east and the Rio Ocreza to the west that, in turn, originates the Ribeira da Líria. The area occupied by the municipality of Castelo Branco is an integral part of the river basin of the Tagus River that runs to the south forming a natural border with Spain. Both the Ponsul River and the Ocreza River are tributaries of the Tagus River and, as such, flow into it.

Climate

The climate in the municipality of Castelo Branco is temperate Mediterranean influenced by the continentality so it shows little humidity throughout the year. The location of the city, in a transitional zone between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, gives it many of the climatological properties that it presents. The average air temperature is around 15.5 ° C, reaching its minimum in January (with minimum average temperatures around 1 ° C) and an average of 7.9 ° C. At its peak in July (where the average temperature is around 25 ° C).

Precipitation is more abundant from October to January with snowfall and precipitation of showers with values above 100mm. On the other hand, in July and August, the rainfall is residual being these the driest months that the city crosses annually. In winter in January, Castelo Branco has minimum temperatures of -4 ° C, but there are records of -7 ° C sometimes with occurrence of snowfall (average of 8 cm). In this last month of January (2012) there was no snowfall due to higher than normal temperatures. In November 1954, Castelo Branco was hit by a Tornado category F3. On October 25, 2012, Castelo Branco was again hit by a Tornado, this time weaker, approximately F1 / F2 and as a consequence of this phenomenon, 5 industrial buildings and 32 cars were damaged, one of them "flew" and was projected into a ravine.

To visit

In the Town of Alcains

Chapel of Santa Apolónia

St. Peter's Chapel

Chapel of the Holy Spirit

cruise

António Trigueiros de Aragão Stadium

Alcains Municipal Pool

Vacation Specials

Solar dos Viscondes de Oleiros

In the parish of Almaceda

Typical village of Martim Branco

Martim White Shale Path

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Visiting the pedestrian route of the Forest and Biodiversity - Zoio

The walking path of the Forest and Biodiversity starts in Carrazedo and heads in the direction of Zoio. The first 700 meters coincide with the Carrazedo - Alimonde route. Soon after the beginning of the Biodiversity Station of Carrazedo, the routes separate and this one goes in the direction of the Site of the Pombeira, entering a wood of negral oak. You will pass the Florestal House of Pombeira and finish the forest, followed by agricultural paths to the village of Zoio. After visiting the village, take the direction of Martim, and when you reach Casa Florestal, return to Carrazedo by forest path.

Visit the Chapel of Santa Luzia - Zoio

Monday, May 13, 2019

Visit the Quinta das Colmeias - Sortes

Located in Lanção, in the Parish of Sortes, Quinta das Colmeias is a Rural Tourism House.
The country house has an on-site restaurant, serving a variety of Portuguese dishes.

Visit the Church of São Mamede - Sortes

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Visit the Shrine of Our Lady of the Annunciation - Serapicos

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Annunciation is a Marian sanctuary located in the parish of Serapicos.
Although it is not known when the original chapel was built, it is known that it was built in thanks to the inhabitants of the village, after one of them, who was returning home on a winter day in a cart drawn by a yoke, was surprised by hungry wolves. In distress, the man begged the help of Our Lady, and the wolves retired without doing any damage to either of their two animals.
The chapel, under the invocation of Our Lady of the Warning, already existed in the late seventeenth century and was served by a confraternity of the same name. The confraternity dates back to 1726, because at that time it was already enriched with indulgences.
The primitive chapel, damaged by time, was replaced by the current one, in the same place, around 1890.
The pilgrimage procession takes place annually on the first Sunday of June.
Exemplary religious architecture. It integrates eight temples allusive to the ordeal.

Visit the Ribeira de Serapicos

Visit to Serapicos Fluvial Beaches

The river beach of Serapicos fed by the waters of the river Angueira is a large recreational space in the water, which in the summer months delight those who pass by here.
This Beach does not have surveillance to bathers

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Visit the Serapicos Picnic Park

The Parque de Merendas de Serapicos is located by the river Angueira. To get here you have to walk through the village until you reach a pontoon, then you will see the dense thicket of poplars and willows shading the various tables and benches in the picnic area.

Visit the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption - Serapicos

Visiting the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - Serapicos

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Visit the pedestrian route of the Quercus - Sendas

The pedestrian path of the Quercus, part of the center of the town of Sendas to Vila Franca, taking the forest path that goes around the Monte do Gato and descends to the Tua Line. When you reach the old stop of Vila Franca, take the path from the right to the center of the village. Then it goes to Fermentãos, by a parallel road to the old line of railroad. At the exit of the village we cross the Roman bridge over the Ribeira de Sendas, then take the left path that accompanies the stream to the south. It climbs to the highest point of the route, at 873 meters and appreciates the landscape to the places already visited. The descent to Sendas is always done by forest paths.
Shortly after crossing the river, you reach an extension where you can choose to continue the walk to Cabeço Pelado and visit a waterfall or return to the starting point.
If you opt for the main road, go back over the river, continuing along that bank, for about 3km. Cross the river again and it is already in the final phase of the route that a small detour (250m) to visit the waterfall, known as Caldeira de Piones.

Visit the Pillory of Vila Franca de Lampaças - Sendas

The Pelourinho of Vila Franca de Lampaças is located in Sendas parish and is classified as a Building of Public Interest.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Visit the Sendas Tiles Panel

Visit the Fountain of Sendas

Visit the Railway Station of Sendas

Sendas Railroad Station, originally known as Quintella, was a gauge of the Tua Line, which served as the town of Sendas, in the Municipality of Bragança.
In July 1905, work on the Tua Line ran very fast, and it was hoped that at the end of September or early October it would arrive at Quintella station, next to Valdrez and Sendas. However, this section only entered service on 18 December of that year, while the next section, until Rossas, entered the service on 14 August 1906.
In 1939, the National Railway Company made restoration works at this station.