From wet overnight rain, we moved further south to the drier town of Amarante, in the hopes that it might be a place to spend a couple of days. The town sprawls across both banks of the Tamega river, with its iconic bridge separating the new and decidedly uninteresting town from the old town with its cathedral and few ruined chapels. We made our way uphill to take in the views, found lunch with a wonderful view of the old town from across the river, and decided to hit the road again to find a town with a bit more to hold our attention.
Back south of the Douro River we made our way into Lamego, which lies high in the vineyard-crossed hills. The main boulevard leads to the zigzagging staircase that makes its way up to the church of Nossa Senhora dos Remedios. We’d skimmed by Lamego earlier in the trip, but left in a rush when we discovered it was the annual pilgrimage weekend, and were surrounded by hordes descending upon the town. This time we found the tree-lined main street quiet, and easily found a wonderful place to stay in a simple pousada with a room looking directly across the way to the front façade of the Se Cathedral. The cathedral’s squarish tower is 12th c., although its additions, including the stunning Gothic doorway are 16th-18th c.
Despite its small town size, we found enough to see. The walk up to N.S. dos Remedios was pleasantly green, and we were surprised to come across a pair of young women who were doing a penitential crawl up the stairs on their knees—albeit with kneepads--, but the church itself is stark and unremarkable. It’s the view that makes the walk worthwhile. We returned through the pine forests that flank the church and visited several of the many other churches in town, enjoyed our afternoon tea break in the well-appointed Scala Café, as well as a particularly nice dinner at Se Christia. We also walked down into the valley, once again picking grapes and the by now only occasional blackberry, to the minute hamlet of Balsemio. Just before arriving we got caught in a major downpour from which we sheltered under some trees and our umbrellas. Balsemio is the site of a tiny Romanesque chapel that was likely built in the 6th c. When we arrived, the place was tightly shut, but a lone passerby said we should look for the woman who lived around the back and that she would open the chapel. We located her and she did indeed open the place up, offering up a good half hour to lovingly explain the whole place to us. It is absolutely lovely. She pointed out what are believed to be the original pieces in the walls, explained the details on the tomb of the 14th c. Bishop of Porto, who chose to be buried here, as well as a beautifully crafted Madonna statue(also 14th c.) and stonework. In short, its beauty and simplicity made the rain and steep return to Lamego entirely worthwhile. She also recommended another site in a nearby town, which we went looking for as we left for Coimbra the next day.
The monastery at Sao Joao de Tarouca is about 15 km away, but took some serious detective work to find. No map we had was sufficiently detailed to indicate that there is a town of Tarouca, but also a blip called Sao Joao de Tarouca. Persistence paid off and we finally arrived at what is a huge ruin of a monastery, with a still standing church. Despite a ban on photography, the arrival of a huge busload of Germans made it possible to sneak some shots of the inside.
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