Portugal Off The Beaten Path Tips by bambino36

Portuguese Historical Villages

These villages were denominated historical villages by the portuguese government. This way it's possible to preserve these small villages with the help of monetary funds created for the goal.
The beauty and historical value of the fortifications, castles and walls only have been discovered by public recently.

These villages are Marialva, Castelo Rodrigo, Almeida, Castelo Mendo, Linhares da Beira, Sortelha, Castelo Novo, Monsanto, Idanha-a-Velha and Piódão.

The River Minho Valley

I consider this region an "off the beaten path" because I never saw many foreigners visiting this beautiful region (with exception to the galiceans).
The river and the relations with Galicia molded the landscape, the history and the way of life of the populations. Even the accent is closer to the galicean than to portuguese. The fishing techniques, the religious traditions, the saudade (or morriña in galicean) are equal on both sides of the river.
I've been raised in this region and I can tell that to know the history, the people and the legends of this region one needs to live there, to talk to the people outside the church on sundays, to drink a glass of wine inside any of the typical taverns, to cross the fields and trails and to climb these beautiful green mountains.
Due to it's location the region had a great importance in the past. The integrity of the portuguese territory was many times solved in this northern region. The heritage that came from that was what we can find all along the left bank of the river Minho: fortifications, castles, watchtowers,...
Valença is probably the best example of this. North of Valença is the Alvarinho wine regions of Monção and Melgaço, also testimonies of many battles in the past. South of Valença we find Vila Nova de Cerveiraand Caminha, this last one encharged of the defense of the mouth of the river Minho. To the inland, not far from Valença and just 9 Km from São Pedro da Torre, there stands Paredes de Coura which is the perfect example of the Minho landscapes