Arrive at night to see the town of Valença, a walled citadel overlooking Spain from Portugal’s northern border, at its most dramatic. The entire old town is surrounded by walls, which are illuminated by floodlights set in the moat below. These highlight the golden yellow stones of its bridges and gates, and cast long shadows so that the town seems almost unreal as it rises out of the river valley like a foot-lit stage set at the top of the hill.
Shops Line Medieval Streets
The other advantage of an evening arrival by car is that the shops lining its narrow streets spill their merchandise onto the streets and cover the facades of the buildings, so to reach the Pousada S. Teotonio at the far end of the town, a driver must run an obstacle course.
While all this commerce is not objectionable, nor ugly, it does cover up many fine house fronts and changes the appearance and atmosphere of the town. At night it is a medieval town lit by street lights and the warm glow of its restaurants and cafes.
There is nothing one "must see" in Valenca. Wandering in its streets in the evening or in the early morning is enough. In warm weather restaurant tables spread onto the streets, and pots of geraniums on iron balconies and tiny door stoop gardens set the scene alive with color.
Churches Worth Visiting
Not for its artistic significance, but for its charm as a much-loved Portuguese village church, stop and look into Bom Jesus chapel, behind the statue of S. Teotonio in the square. The tiny chapel of S. Sebastian just inside the gate is a classic of folk art with small primitive polychrome statuary, including a S. Stephen whose face bears an expression of abject boredom.
Walk the perfectly preserved walls for beautiful views, as well as for a fascinating look at how defensive walls worked. There is one area just beyond the corner battlements near the pousada, where an army, if they scaled the outer wall, would be forced to drop down into a walled-in field in which they would be trapped, a perfect target from the battlements above.
Wednesday Market
Outside the walls is a more modern town with a busy Wednesday market that offers a fascinating slice of local life. Farm women with baskets of herbs, ripe fruits and vegetables and furry baby rabbits catch up on news with customers. Bakery stalls are piled high with broa, the traditional bread of the region, and enormous displays of ceramics, cooking wares, rugs, clothing and goods of all types fill row upon row of canopied stalls.
Across the Minho River, Tuy, Spain, has a market day on Thursday; cross to Tuy on a bridge built by Eiffel, one of several of his works in Portugal. Both towns are way stops on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella, the Camino de Santiago.
Barbara Rogers - Traveler, writer and guidebook author with a passion for those lands that border the Mediterranean Sea and the neighboring Atlantic ...
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