Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Police Station
(
258 900 380; Rua Dr Luís da Cunha Nogueira)
Post Office
(Praça da República;
8.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri)
Turismo
( 258 942 335;
www.cm-pontedelima.pt
;
Torre da Cadeia Velha; 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-6pm summer,
9am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm winter)
This exceptionally friendly and well-organised tourist office
shares space with a small handicrafts gallery. The lower floor has glass walkways over the
excavated layers of an ancient tower.
Getting There & Away
There is street parking uphill from Praça da República; higher up still, it's free.
Board long-distance buses on Av António Feijó (buy tickets on board) or at the bus sta-
tion. All services thin out on Sunday.
AV Cura/Transcolvia
( 258 800 340)
has a service to Viana do Castelo (€3.50, 50 minutes).
Rede Expressos
( 258 942 870)
has one daily run to Braga (€4, 30 minutes), Valença do
Minho (€7, 25 minutes) and Lisbon (€19, 6½ hours) via Porto (€8, 2¼ hours).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Ponte da Barca
POP 2870 / ELEV 178M
Peaceful and friendly Ponte da Barca, named after the
barca
(barge) that once ferried pil-
grims and others across the Rio Lima, has an idyllic, willow-shaded riverfront (perfect for
cycling into the wooded valley), a handsome 16th-century bridge, a tiny old centre and the
best source of information on the Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês.
The old town, just east of the bridge, is packed into narrow lanes on both sides of the
main road, Rua Conselheiro Rocha Peixoto. Wednesday is market day.
Sights & Activities
The riverfront is the focal point of the town (and a good place for a picnic), with pictur-
esque weeping willows lining the banks of the Rio Lima, and a green lawn that beckons
sunbathers. The lovely, 10-arched
ponte
(bridge) originally dates from the 1540s. Beside it
is the old arcaded marketplace and a little garden,
Jardim dos Poetas
, dedicated to two 16th-
century poet brothers, Diogo Bernardes and Agostinho da Cruz, who were born in Ponte
