Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mosteiro de São João de Tarouca
The stunning, massive yet skeletal remains of Portugal's first Cistercian monastery, the
Mosteiro de São João de Tarouca
( 254 678 766; 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm Oct-Apr, 10am-12.30pm &
2-6pm May-Sep)
, founded in 1124, stand eerily in the wooded Barosa valley below the Serra
de Leomil, 15km southeast of Lamego. There is beauty in the decay , as a stream bisects
the walls backed by a bowl of terraced hills. The monastery fell into ruin after religious
orders were abolished in 1834.
Only the church, considerably altered in the 17th century, stands intact among the
ghostly ruins of the monks' quarters. Its treasures include the gilded choir stalls, 18th-cen-
tury
azulejos,
and the church's pride and joy - a luminous
São Pedro
painted by Gaspar
Vaz, contemporary and colleague of Grão Vasco.
From Lamego, Joalto/EAVT has several services each weekday (fewer on weekends) to
Tarouca (€2.30).
Mosteiro de Salzedas
With pink stone arches picturesquely mouldering in the sun, the Cistercian
Mosteiro de
Salzedas
(admission €3; 9.30am-1pm & 2.30-6pm Wed-Sun, 2.30-6pm Mon-Tue)
is located 3km up the
Barosa valley from Ucanha in Vila Salzedas.This was one of the grandest monasteries in
the land when it was built in 1168 with funds from Teresa Afonso, governess to Afonso
Henriques' five children. The enormous church, which was extensively remodelled in the
18th century, is today a bit scruffy with decay, particularly its roofless cloisters next door;
the faux crystal chandeliers are an odd sight, too. Across from the church lies the old
judi-
aria,
with dark narrow lanes skirting around the gloomy centuries-old dwellings.
From Lamego, Joalto/EAVT runs three buses each weekday to Vila Salzedas (€2.75).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Peso da Régua
POP 17,131
Lamego's businesslike alter ego, the sun-bleached town of Régua, abuts the Rio Douro at
the western edge of the demarcated port-wine region. As the region's largest riverside
town, it grew into a major port-wine
entrepôt
in the 18th century, and remains an import-
