2019 April :  Trip to Amarante in the North of Portugal

Every year the AAA organises visits to archaeological and historic sites within Portugal and Spain. This April we travelled north to the area around Amarante which was our base for the start of the tour. The first day was spent travelling to our hotel and in the evening we enjoyed an excellent dinner at the restaurant Pobre Tolo in the town.
The following day the group drove to Penafiel where we met our guide for a visit to the Museu Municipal which is currently housed in the 18th century stately home of the Pereira do Lago family. The museum has five permanent exhibition rooms and one for temporary exhibitions and spices for educational services and activities. Apart from the interesting archaeological collections which cover a period of over 5.000 years, the museum has ethnographic and well presented local historical exhibitions which have been built up since the end of the 19th century up to the present day....reflecting the lives and occupations of the locality.
The rest of the morning was spent at the impressive archaeological site at Castro de Monte Mozinho about 9kms south of Penafiel. The habitation site covers an area of approximately 20 hectares and was constructed during the time of Emperor Augustus (1a.C - 1d.C). Archaeological excavations have shown that the site was in fact occupied prior to the Roman period and there is good evidence to show how the inhabitants adopted the Roman way of life, particularly in the construction of their homes...changing from the typical pre-Roman round houses to a rectangular style with tile roofs.
Also during the Roman period a road was built leading to the top of the site where there was an open space likely to have been used as a 'forum'.Close by we saw the remains of the necropolis and in the visitors centre there is a small display of artifacts as well as a model and aerial photographs of the site.Most of the archaeological finds are now held in the museum in Penafiel.

After lunch at O Casanova restaurant in Penafiel we returned to Amarante for a tour of the museum after which the group split up and had free time to explore the town.
Next day most of the group went on a guided tour of the town..to the Igreja Matris and the historic centre which was on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago d Compostela indicated by metal scallop shells set in the roads and pavements. Also during the morning some of the group went to the large and busy town market.
After free time for lunch we all met up again and drove to Freixo, a pretty medieval village of stone buildings. Here in 1882, a granite block was found on the site of a well. On it was an inscription referring to a place called 'Toncobriga'....a town mentioned by Ptolemy as being situated on a hill (-briga) and set between the Douro and Minha. The village of Freixo is now home to the Professional School of Archaeology and one of their staff gave the group a very interesting and well informed tour of the fabulous site...explaining that the discovery of the granite block and subsequent excavations have confirmed this assignment the site now known as 'Tongobriga'... possibly built at the time of the Emperor Augustus, although evidence of pre-Roman occupation has also been found there. The Roman remains here are very impressive ..sections of town walls, bath house with its
hypocaust, swimming pool (natatio), houses and parts of the extensive forum with an area of 9500 m2 where there both commercial and religious spaces..all are clearly visible. The town at its height in the second half of the 2nd century, covered an area of around 30 hectares and suggested population of around 2.500 people. ...however by the 5th century the town had been abandoned and we were told that large amounts of the Roman building material was robbed out and used elsewhere.
Excavation, research and study continue at Tongobriga...to conserve the site, provide courses in archaeology and conservation as well as presenting the monument to the general public and groups such as the AAA.
Our final day in the region took us to the impressive monastery of Santa Maria de Pombeiro and the Igreja de Sao Vicente de Sousa. Both these buildings are on the Rota Romanico and are close to the town of Felgueiras. The Rota has 58 different monuments in all..and all display the Romanesque style of architecture.
After a superb lunch at the nearby Cantinho Rustico the group set off to Peniche where we stayed for one night at the Star Inn Hotel. The hotel was situated very close to the lovely beach and many of our group took advantage of walks along the sands on a beautiful evening.
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On the way back to the Algarve we visited the new Dino Parque near to Lourinha. A few years ago the AAA visited the museum in the town and met Octávio Mateus who is a renowned paeleoantologist. At that time we also visited his department at the Nova University in Lisbon. Whilst there he told us about the project to open a park to display examples of prehistoric life discovered in Portugal. We were met by Octávio's brother, Simão, who took us into the workshop/laboratory where one of the students was busily chipping away at a huge 'rock' to extract tiny pieces of fossilized 'dino eggs'. Simão described the work they do at the parque..to conserve, study and present the specimens to the general public. We then moved on to the exhibition area where some of Octávio's discoveries are displayed with excellent explanation panels. Outside in the parque over 150 life-size dinosaur models are placed in the woods..there are 5 different trails and recently the Sea Monsters trail has been added.
All these models were built in Germany and reassembled on site. Children have a great fascination for dinosaurs and there were many groups of youngsters enjoying their day out! For them too there is an activity area where they can 'discover' their own prehistoric monster!
For our excursions we like to cover a variety of sites and places of interest as well as enjoyable meals that appeal to everyone who joins us.....and this time it certainly ticked all the boxes! Our thanks go to all those who organised the programme, the hotels, restaurants and to our driver, Florentino.