Travel Tips

Facing the local sports center, a track to bike competition stands before a new quarter that swallows two windmills, once one of the highlights of town. In the horizon, the protection of the mountain of Candeeiros, that holds most of the Natural Park (Parque Natural das serras de Aire e Candeeiros)

Construction fever opens new avenues, lined with modern buildings, with controlled height (more or less), but without enough town planning. The invoice will come later.

Twenty years of political incompetence transformed a place projected to be a pleasant small garden with facilities, near the church, in an abandoned shame. Forget it, Turquel has more than politicians

Good taste here and there, compensates the error, and contributes to a generally pleasant look My friend Antonio bought an old house in the center of town, and reconstructed it with intelligence and respect. The southern entrance of town looks good.

Let us peep in a private courtyard. Funny! Who will be the owner? I think I know him… Those are the advantages of small towns!

One of the traditional buildings still stands, in the most untouched of the old streets.

At the northern entrance of town, a beautiful traditional house was the residence of one of the cultural references of Turquel: the historian José Diogo Ribeiro, who published, in the first half of the 20th century, several books about Turquel and its history.

Known in all Portugal as “A aldeia do hóquei em patins” which means “the village of roller hockey” the heart of Turquel beats in the pavilion of the HCT, founded in 1962 (I’m number 8, being one of the founders). With ups that took us to national and international victories, and downs to discreet performances, Turquel keeps being one of the most efficient educational centers of that sport, maybe in the entire world.