Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rodonorte
( 259 340 710)
operates weekday buses at noon and 6.30pm to Lamas de Ôlo
(€2.45, 30 minutes), returning to Vila Real at 12.30pm.
FROM MONDIM DE BASTO
Auto Mondinense
( 255 381 296)
runs from Mondim de Basto to Ermelo (€2.35, one hour)
three times each weekday, and to Lamas de Ôlo (€3.20, 50 minutes) twice on Tuesdays
and Fridays.
THE HILLS ARE ALIVE: STRANGE WAYS IN TRÁS-OS-MONTES
For centuries, the remoteness of Trás-os-Montes has insulated it from central authority, helping its people pre-
serve nonconformist ways that sometimes raise eyebrows in other parts of Portugal.
A number of licentious - and blatantly pagan - traditions still survive in the countryside. Witness the antics of
the
Caretos of Podence
(near Macedo de Cavaleiros) - where gangs of young men in
caretos
(leering masks)
and vividly striped costumes invade the town centre, bent on cheerfully humiliating everyone in sight. Prime tar-
gets are young women, at whom they thrust their hips and wave the cowbells hanging from their belts. Similar
figures are to be seen in Varge, in the Parque Natural de Montesinho.
Colourful festivals derived from ancient Celtic solstice rituals take place in many villages in the two weeks
between Christmas Eve and Dia dos Reis (Epiphany). During the so-called
Festa dos Rapazes
(Festival of the
Lads), unmarried men over 16 light all-night bonfires and rampage around in robes of rags and masks of brass or
wood. Un-Christian indeed!
Then there are the
pauliteiros
(stick dancers) of the Miranda do Douro region, who look and dance very much
like England's Morris dancers. Local men deck themselves out in kilts and smocks, black waistcoats, bright flap-
ping shawls, and black hats covered in flowers and ribbons, and do a rhythmic dance to the complex clacking of
paulitos
(short wooden sticks) - a practice that likely survives from Celtic times. The best time to see
pauliteiros
in Miranda is during the
Festas de Santa Bárbara
(also called Festas da Cidade, or City Festival), which is held
on the third weekend in August.
Finally, there are the region's so-called crypto-Jews. During the Inquisition, Jews from Spain and Portugal
found that they could evade ecclesiastical authorities here. Many families continued to observe Jewish practices
in secrecy well into the 20th century.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Mondim de Basto
POP 7493 / ELEV 200M
Sitting in the Tâmega valley at the intersection of the Douro, Minho and Trás- os-Montes
regions, low-lying Mondim de Basto has no compelling sights beyond a few flowery
squares, but it makes an attractive base from which to explore the heights of the Parque
Natural do Alvão. The vineyards surrounding town cultivate grapes used in the fine local
vinho verde
(young wine).
